The traitor Astartes known as Typhus. Since his betrayal of the Emperor 10,000 years ago, this being of pestilence has survived due to mysterious Warp powers that extended his longevity but turned his body into a diseased horror.

“I shall reap a terrible bounty from the death that I sow in your name, Father Nurgle . . .”—Typhus the Traveler, Herald of Nurgle

* * *

HERE FOLLOWS A REPORT SUMMARIZING THE RECENT ACTIVITIES OF THE ARCH-TRAITOR KNOWN AS TYPHUS
To: Inquisitor Gideon Locke, Ordo Hereticus
Report Author: Liam Drax, Ordo Hereticus
ID File: DG102 45/7323 5/83
Security Clearance: Terius Alpha

After an eight-year hiatus, the renegade warlord and traitor known as “Typhus” has re-entered the Corvus Cluster. This is an assumption based on a sighting of his flagship the Terminus Est, a warship encrusted with the filth of aeons.

The last previous sighting of Typhus inside the Corvus Cluster was in 737.M41, when the traitor Astartes and the heretical Voloh Gudag unleashed the Kassig Plague on Dozaria, an act that led to the death of untold millions and weakened the planet’s defenses only six months before the arrival of a massive Death Guard invasion.

Nothing more was heard of Typhus until 740.M41, when Chaos cultists rose in rebellion on the world of Synnax in the Acteron Sector, a region to the galactic east of the Corvus Cluster.

For some months, the local Planetary Defense Force (PDF) managed to contain the rebellion—until Typhus arrived with a small Chaos fleet that cut off all communications with the planet.

A sizable force of Death Guard warriors are leading the invasion of Dozaria.

By the time Imperial authorities managed to organize a relief force to come to the world’s aid, Typhus and his plague fleet were gone. What was left was a world nearly devoid of life but for millions of victims of the Kassig Plague.

A subsequent investigation by the Ordo Hereticus revealed that Typhus had divided his fleet into smaller flotillas that spread plague across half the sector, most notably in the Graske, Orbus, and Varasoon systems.

Over the past five years, it’s estimated that 32 billion Imperial citizens have died from Typhus’ malicious efforts, and Imperial forces in the sector are now engaged in a score of military campaigns seeking to contain the spread of plague, cleanse contaminated worlds, and restore Imperial rule.

Even without further attacks by the Death Guard, Imperial strategists estimate it will take another decade to restore order in the Acteron Sector—and generations to bring Imperial tithes back to the levels known before Typhus’ treachery.

In 742.M41, the Terminus Est,  appeared over religious colony on Elamin IV. Several hundred traitor Astartes, along with thousands of cultists, descended upon the Cathedral of the Emperor’s Wrath, a nearby monastery, and the St. Cognatius Seminary, a famous theological university of the Ecclesiarchy.

For a week, this religious community was the center of unfathomable atrocities and heresies, lit at night by burning pyres of screaming Ministorum priests.

This senseless attack eventually came to end when PDF troops and civilian rescue teams arrived, only to find Typhus gone and such horrific scenes of heresy that Imperial personnel were mind-wiped to ensure news of this attack will remain hidden from the Imperium at large.

The first indication that the Terminus Est hashad  returned to the Corvus Cluster came at the end of last year (744.M41) when Inquisitor Castinus van de Kurg, a noted Radical of the Ordo Xeno reported that his heretical contacts with the Iyanden Craftworld offered evidence that one of their Eldar warships had spotted Typhus’ flagship and a dozen plague-tainted warships exiting the Heard of Darkness warp storm and passing by the warp-cursed Dargav System.

The Terminus Est is a battleship-class Daemonship. Built before the Great Crusade, the vessel’s impressive military capabilities have been enhanced by its exposure to the Warp and the melding of daemonic spirits with machinery.

It is speculated that Typhus may be returning to the war-torn world of Dozaria, where the traitor Space Marine previously laid the foundation for the Death Guard’s invasion.

In recent years, Imperial troops have largely managed to stop the Death Guard advance across the world, but with so many troops sent off on the Damocles Gulf Crusade, it isn’t possible to replace Imperial losses and that could open a new opportunity for the Death Guard to regain the initiative in the war.

What some fear is that Typhus will bring forth his plague fleet to virus bomb the Imperial defenses or, equally ominous, Typhus will take to the battlefield to bolster the traitors’ morale and use his well-documented military talents to bring victory to the traitor army.

I recommend this possibility be reported immediately to Admiral Hausu Dinola at the Nguyen Naval Base, with a strong recommendation that the Imperial Navy increase its presence in the Dozarian System.

+ + END REPORT + +

RESPONSE: Inquisitor Locke

Recommendation accepted. I also will encourage Admiral Dinola to strip ground troops, no matter how badly needed, from less-strategic war zones and reinforce Dozaria. Allowing the Ruinous Powers to conquer another Imperial world in this region could put the entire Corvus Cluster at risk.

— Locke

Click here to see more of Nemris’ great artwork.

—

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