A sketch artist’s rendition of cultists killed in an Adeptus Arbites raid on the world of Sabado.

Xeno taint uncovered on multiple worlds

Rumors are spreading that xeno-tainted cults are operating on dozens of worlds on the eastern regions of the Corvus Cluster.

Details are sparse, as Imperial authorities are taking severe measures to suppress these rumors. On Belliose III, for example, Arbites Enforcers closed down all pubs and taverns surrounding the planet’s main spaceport, an alleged hotbed of rumors where hundreds of citizens were arrested and charged with “disseminating misinformation to alarm the citizenry and undermine loyalty to the Imperium.”

Still, whispered gossip indicates the Adeptus Arbites on the world of Sabado first encountered these xeno-affiliated cultists. After conducting a routine raid of reported cultist activity, they discovered that many of their prisoners were afflicted with severe mutations.

Medical analysis of these cultists, conducted to determine if the mutations are associated with warp taint, instead found the cultists’ DNA incorporated genetic material of an unknown xeno source.

After reporting this matter to higher authorities, the Ordo Xenos began conducting an investigation into the matter and ordered Arbites in several sectors to conduct random  genetic tests of the citizenry

Indeed, an Inquisition-led screening of Imperial officials on Belliose III resulted in the arrest of 150 government officials whose DNA failed genetic purity tests. Since then, Arbites raids of these citizens’ extended families have resulted in additional arrests.

A pict taken by a surveillance drone before it was shot down by the traitor Astartes. The drone was instrumental in helping the Volanta PDF to track down the traitor (note the Valkyrie and Chimeras in the upper right corner of the pict as they advance on the traitor’s position).

Traitor Astartes killed on Volana

A battalion of PDF troops on the twilight world of Volana report that they killed a Blood Wolf warrior after a fierce battle that saw more than 300 soldiers killed.

The traitor’s activities were uncovered by sheer luck, reported the Volana High Command.

“A nearby research team studying the planet’s flora lost contact with a temporary lab they’d set up in the settlement of Dawngate,” noted a planetary news voxcast. “When researchers sent a drone to deliver a message inquiring about the communications problem, the operator watching the drone sensor could see buildings afire.”

Moving closer, the drone picked up the image of a traitor Astartes moving among the wreckage. Upon seeing the drone, the warrior raised his boltgun and shot the drone out of the sky.

“Sending a alarm to the Volana PDF, a battalion of troops were rushed to the scene by Valkyries and Chimeras,” the voxcast reported. “Using drones, the PDF tracked down the traitor as he attempted to escape into the barren countryside.”

What followed was a bitter fight. Outgunned, the traitor braved the fire of the entire battalion of troopers to engage in hand-to-hand combat, which led to significant losses by the PDF.

“In the end, the battalion commander ordered all Chimeras and Valkyries to open fire on the traitor, regardless of the presence of  friendly troops in melee,” the voxcast continued. ” It took the sustained fire of multilasers, lascannon, and autocannons to finally bring down the traitor.”

The destruction of Dawngate was the latest in a series of raids on Volona  conducted by the Blood Wolves, a traitor Astartes warband that has plagued the subsector. Authorities have no clue as to why only a single traitor appeared to be involved in the raid.

Dar Sai traitor assassinates PDF general

A prominent general of the Dar Sai Planetary Defense Force (PDF) was assassinated recently by the Imperial traitor, Lecia Athena, a former menial who abandoned the Omao Plantation to sell her immortal soul to the moon’s Tau invaders.

“It is my sad duty to report that General Ishmael Halberg died of wounds sustained when two gunman approached the general outside the Malifax Command Center and opened fire with illicitly obtained autoguns,”  announced Senior Arbitrator Jan Servass of the Malifax Precinct of the Adeptus Arbites.

Responsibility for the assassination was claimed by Athena—aka Ath or Lucia Ath—in illegal pamphlets that were distributed across the city of Malifax. The 30-year-old traitor called for citizens to rebel against Imperial rule and embrace “The Greater Good” philosophy of the Tau.

“All loyal Imperial citizens will rightly recognize the lies and falsehoods this traitor is using in an attempt to help filthy xenos enslave our world,” Servass said. “All resources are being put to work to find and arrest this xeno-loving wretch, so we can give her a fair trial and execute her quickly.”

New, more stringent security measures have been implemented around the command center, and patrols of Enforcers are scouring the city, aggressively questioning citizens and conducting mass raids of habitat units.

Food supply threatened on Dargav III

The “Chucha,” the most common rodent-like vermin on Dargav III, is a hideous example of the insidious effects of the Heart of Darkness on planet fauna.

Warp taint on the world of Dargav III is worsening, particularly among the fauna and flora of the planet that is key to the beleaguered population’s food supply.

Situated uncomfortably close to the warp storm known as the Heart of Darkness,the storm’s expansion three years ago caused a calamitous increase in mutations and insanity on the planet.

Nearly 2 million Imperial citizens with severe mutations already have been given the Emperor’s Mercy as a cautionary measure to limit the threat that warp-tainted citizens pose to Imperial rule.

Since the warp storm’s expansion, the sky over Dargav III bears a horizon-to-horizon scar of pulsating purple. To look directly into the light is to risk insanity, and most citizens wear heavy cloaks when venturing outdoors to limit exposure to the light.

There is little that can be done, however, to shield the planet’s fauna and flora. The warp-tainted light of the Heart of Darkness has forced Imperial authorities to slaughter half of the world’s grox population due to severe mutations, and more than a quarter of the edible aquatic life in the planet’s oceans are now inedible.

It is unclear how long the populace of Dargav III can survive under the looming warp threat. Imperial authorities admit the only real solution is to abandon the planet but, with a population of 13 billion, there is not enough shipping in the surrounding sectors combined to carry out an evacuation.

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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.