Historians Prolog
Thought by many to be one of Phildeaux Quakespire's more ambitious works, Malgeth tells a story from the earliest days of Necromunda. Set in a time before the evolution of the hive cities the planet is famous for, Malgeth contains many references often lost on the vast majority of Hive Primus' citizenry. It was common practice for the program that accompanied a performance to include a glossary explaining to the audience what a cat, pig, and martlet are.
Although no copies exist of the original manuscript to confirm it, it is widely believed that Quakespire used the original names of the colonies, towns, and cities that eventually merged into the pre-hive sprawl that grew into what is now known as Hive Primus. Since most of the audience of the drama did not recognize these original names, Quakespire changed them to more modern counterparts to ease the audiences understanding of the work.
Quakespire also risked the ire of the Noble Houses of Hive Primus by including ancestors as characters in the drama, and so telling a tale of the establishment of the current nobility of the Spire. Those unfamiliar with the history of the Noble Houses of Hive Primus may not recognize the names of the Noble Houses that have disappeared over the millennia. Imperial records show that House Maldiov did indeed exist, but collapsed in an economic disaster in 235 M37 and what survived was absorbed by the remaining Noble Houses. House Barthou vanished in 157 M35, when Helmawr Barthou was appointed Imperial Governor and officially changed the name of the House.
No Imperial Records have been found to confirm the existence of either a House Malgeth or a House Scot. In order to escape censure by the current Noble Houses, Quakespire appears to have invented these Houses, along with the briefly mentioned House Glomys and House Cumberland. It is also possible that these were very early Houses that did not survive until the establishment of the Hive, and Quakespire saw no need to change their names for the audience.
Over the past millennia, a number of expeditions (six in total) have ventured into Hive Bottom seeking Malgeth's fortress of Inverns, believing the ruins to be located in the deepest pits of the hive. Three of the expeditions never returned, and those that did found no evidence of such a fortress.