Axel-trees were trees native to the lost Fortress World of Cadia.
Biology[]
Axel-trees were described to resemble Terran pines, implying they were coniferous. Additionally, they were well suited to the colder climate of Cadia, which ranged from cool temperate levels to Arctic temperatures. They were know to grow in incredibly thick forests all over the planet's landmasses. Notably, Cadia was located in close proximity to the Eye of Terror, a Warp rift whose malignant energies caused Cadian-born Humans to develop unnaturally violet irises, yet axel-trees were never noted to have mutations or corruptions.
History[]
Axel-trees arose at an unknown time on Cadia, an Earth-like planet in the Segmentum Obscurus of the Milky Way. When the planet was settled by Humans at an unknown point before the Age of Strife in the 23rd millennium, axel-trees were already present. In the late 30th millennium, the Imperium of Man stretched across the stars in the Great Crusade, a bid by the enigmatic yet powerful and immortal Emperor of Mankind to restore Humanity's lost golden age. One of his transhuman sons, a Primarch known as Lorgar, went on a pilgrimage to find the truth behind the gods that were worshipped on his homeworld, and found Cadia, where the Human settlers had turned to almost feral savages who worshipped the dark gods of Chaos. The early Cadians were quickly exterminated by cyclonic torpedoes, but the planet, and the axel-trees, survived the destruction, allowing the axel-trees to eventually dominate the planet again by the time Humans resettled in the 32nd millennium.
The population of axel-trees would then survive 12 Black Crusades over the next 10,000 years, invasions by the forces of Chaos trying to break out of the Eye of Terror, while Cadia became a heavily militarized fortress world and home to the Cadian Shock Troops, the most famous regiment of the Imperial Guard. However, in the last year of the 41st millennium, the 13th Black Crusade, led by Chaos' Warmaster Abaddon the Despoiler, finally succeeded in destroying Cadia. Only 3 million of the Cadian populace escaped their world's destruction, but the axel-trees were exterminated for good, assuming that none had been previously planted off-world or had seeds saved by the survivors.