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Man has lived upon Catachan longer than Imperial records can recall. The scout probes of the first colonists found a planet which looked deceptively green and fertile from the safety of orbit. When the giant colony ships crash-landed the pioneers inside awoke from cryogenic slumber to find themselves marooned upon one of the most inhospitable places in the galaxy. Catachan is a death world, perhaps the most notorious and dangerous of all the death worlds in the Imperium. Its jungles are home to some of the most predatory animals and plants ever encountered by man. The first settlers survived by the merest chance, holed-up inside the wreckage of their spacecraft, besieged by the living jungle around them. Undoubtedly many died. Only the hardiest, quickest and luckiest ever survive on a death world. The planet's few scattered settlements are fortresses surrounded by barren bedrock where the soil has been blasted bare to provide clear lines of fire. Even so, buildings never last long on Catachan. Lichens soon take root upon any surface, secreting a potent acid which crumbles even the most solidly constructed defences. Strangle vines creep a hundred metres in a single night, and their constricting grip can crush a plasteel bunker or smash a tank like an eggshell. The people of Catachan must constantly build and rebuild. Wherever they construct their settlements the jungles grow more densely and become increasingly aggressive. Even the wild creatures of Catachan gather to repel the invaders. It is as if the whole planet were determined to rid itself of human intrusion, just as the immune system of a human being reacts to some invasive virus. Sooner or later humans must abandon their homes and resettle on another site, beginning their struggle against the jungle afresh.
The people of this unique world are moulded by a life of constant battle. Children learn to shoot before they can walk. Only those who can shoot fast and straight ever reach adulthood. Outside the fragile domes a world wars against its human inhabitants. Every living thing on Catachan is inimical to human life. Every creature is a carnivore. Every plant is poisonous. Some plants secrete a deadly pollen that saturates the air and invades filter systems. Other types of vegetation release sticky sap which holds a creature fast and slowly dissolves its flesh. A few large trees even emit poisons into the ground, killing surrounding plants and creating a slimy acid bog which entraps anything foolish enough to venture near. The native creatures are even more dangerous than the plants. The multi-legged Catachan Devil with its segmented body and snapping jaws is as big as a tank and capable of battling even the notorious Shambling Mamorphs of the volcano lands. Few humans grow old on Catachan, and those that survive the longest retain an instinct for self-preservation unrivalled anywhere in the galaxy. THE CATACHAN REGIMENT Like all the worlds in the Imperium, Catachan is required to provide troops for the Imperial Guard. The people of Catachan live amongst dense and dangerous jungles which are altogether alien to most of the hive-dwelling citizens of the Imperium's larger planets. When it comes to jungle fighting the Catachan regiment has no equal and the Imperial Guard recognises their supremacy in this type of warfare. During the jungle wars on Epsion Octarius, the Catachan Regiment survived for nearly forty days amidst Crotalid infested mangrove swamps before reaching the Ork Gargant construction site of Grubnak's Drops. On that occasion the savagery of the Jungle Fighters so impressed the Deathskull Ork Warlord that he ordered his Gargants to be painted in green jungle stripes with red bandanas, in imitation of the Catachan Jungle Fighters' uniform. Whether he did this out of respect for his enemies or in the hope that some of the Jungle Fighters' skills would rub off on his Gargant fighting machines is uncertain. Jungle Fighters wear the green combat gear that is everyday costume for the people of Catachan. Their clothing is erfectly suited to fast-moving warfare amidst steaming jungles. Combined with the red bandana, this rough but practical costume passes as the regiment's uniform.
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