Shuttles from Adrian Drake’s ship approach an ancient derelict in the emptiness of interstellar space.

Rogue Trader discovers ancient derelict

A faulty Geller Field generator proved to be a stroke of luck for the flamboyant Rogue Trader Adeon Drake.

Normally, a ship that loses its Geller Field is lost to the Warp, the crew’s souls consumed by the horrific denizens of the Immaterium. But, in Drake’s case, the generator simply began to lose power and, to save the ship from destruction, Drake was forced to re-enter normal space in the vast emptiness of interstellar face.

Whether destiny or blind luck, Drake’s ship, The Atropos, dropped out of Warp within sensor range of an ancient ship. The ship was without power and, upon closer examination, proved to be a vessel of immense age, perhaps having floated in the void since the Dark Age of Technology.

There are rumors that Drake found all manner of horrors aboard the ship. Some say he fought his way to a great treasure of archeotech, perhaps even an Standard Template Construct (STC) that is of great value to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Others say the ship was filled with food containers spoiled by exposure to the vacuum of space.

Whatever the truth, Drake is saying little. The derelict ship remains in interstellar space, its location impossible to discover without the coordinates that only Drake and his ship navigator share.

Ganger wins Dozarian Medal of Honor

Astry Kruger, winner of the Dozarian Medal of Honor.

A hive ganger on Dozaria has been named an Imperial hero for his sacrifice in stopping a Death Guard attack on the hive city of Hyrule.

On 6 111 749.M41, scores of traitor Astartes, supported by thousands of cultists, attacked the Imperial-held city in an attempt to capture the strategically important manufactorums that supply the local military forces now under siege.

Astry Kruger, a 17-year-old member of the Brass Talons hive gang, was imprisoned in an Arbites prison when the Death Guard invasion began in early 738.M41. Offered the choice of execution or enlistment in the 3rd Penal Regiment of the Dozarian Planetary Defense Force (PDF), Kruger enthusiastically volunteered to fight for the Emperor.

When the Death Guard attack began, the traitors quickly broke through the front lines of the Imperial defense, and the 3rd Penal Regiment was ordered to plug the hole.

The regiment of former prisoners and hive scum was roughly handled by traitor forces, and when a massive Death Guard warlord appeared on the front lines, all resistance began to collapse.

That’s when Kruger was seen running toward the warlord with a demolition charge strapped to his back. Although shot several times, the brave young soldier kept his footing and stumbled to the feet of the warlord before discharging his explosive—and vaporizing both himself and the traitor leader.

The traitor attack quickly lost its momentum with the death of its commander and, as more Imperial reinforcements arrived, the attack was repulsed.

In recognition of his sacrifice, Kruger has been pardoned for all Imperial crimes and awarded the newly minted Dozarian Medal of Honor (posthumously).

Alternative rumor: It has been alleged by seditious citizens that Kruger, instead of sacrificing himself, was attempting to surrender or join the traitors—and his demolition charge detonated when a stray lasgun round hit the soldier in the back. Imperial commissars are executing anyone denigrating the hero’s reputation.

Life reported on still-quarantined Prysmos

Saurian beasts are reported still alive on the still-quarantined world of Prysmos.

The Belliose merchant prince, Count Johann Feracci, has returned from the isolated world of Prysmos and reports that, contrary to expectations by scholars, the planet still is host to an abundant population of flora and fauna.

The planet was expected to be lifeless—or at least limited to life forms of the simplest nature—after the Eudoxus System entered a highly radioactive ion cloud in M36.

Bombarded by 30 Gy/day of radiation, biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus predicted all advanced life on the planet would die a slow and painful death. At most, they speculated, only the most simple of organisms—molds, fungi, and bacteria—could survive, and only if they lived underground or deep in the planet’s oceans.

That does not appear to be the case, Count Feracci says.

“There is lush vegetation across the planet,” he reports. “Indeed, the vegetation has, over the past five millennia, covered the cities and towns of Prysmos, and only the mightiest of ruins still stand.”

As for fauna, Feracci says he recorded sightings of vast animal herds, albeit many mutated by radiation, moving through the now-heavily forested planet.

Humanity, however, does not appear to have survived.

The Exodus System has been under Imperial quarantine since the planet entered the ion cloud and, although it recently exited the cloud after nearly 5,000 years, the quarantine has remained in force.

Feracci’s visit to the planet was sanctioned by the Administratum, however, as part of a scientific effort to determine whether the planet is suitable for future resettlement.

Battle Sister shines on battlefield

Rumors are spreading of a mighty warrior among the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas.

It is said that an Idylien Lister, having only just joined the ranks of battle sisters of the Order of the Bloody Rose, already has garnered attention for her ferocity and skill on the battlefield.

On the world of Dozaria, Sister Idylien’s commandry (the military force of a convent) was assailed by a horde of Nurgle cultists outside the city of Alicante. Leading this heretical attack was a power-arrmored warrior of the Death Guard.

Recognizing that this traitor Astartes was fueling the resolve of the cultists, Sister Idylien carved a bloody path through the horde of heretics and plunged her chainsword through the tainted heart of the traitor.

With his death, the morale of the cultists collapsed, and Sister Idylien and her fellow sisters slaughtered vast numbers of the heretics.

Her commandry is attached to the Basilica of Martyred Heroes, which resides on the Cardinal World of Okassis.

Scrap code infects servo-skulls on Calamitous

Tech priests on Calamitous are warning that production on the forge world may suffer as servo-skulls across the planet malfunction in increasing numbers.

Thousands of servo-skulls are wandering aimlessly, slamming into walls, or simply falling to the ground powerless—thus disrupting the clerical and administrative work of tech priests and their menials in manufactorums across the planet.

The source of the malfunctions has been identified as scrap code, a heretical operating language that can cripple a Machine Spirit and pervert the function of Imperial technology.

“This is tech-heresy of the highest kind,”said one senior magos on Calamitous. “We do not know yet what heretics are responsible for this crime, but they shall be hunted down and punished.”

Some say it is ironic that Calimitous is stricken with tech-heresy, given that the forge world is still under sanction by the Inquisition for committing a similar crime. Some time back, the Ordo Xenos discovered a cadre of tech priests engaged in the study of Tau technology, an act of tech-heresy that is a high crime in the Imperium.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.