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Typhus

In the Warhammer 40,000 setting, Typhus the Traveller is a Chaos Sorcerer and a captain of the Death Guard. He runs the battleship Terminus Est and is responsible for spreading Plague Zombies.

It was Typhus who was accountable for bringing the Destroyer Plague down on the Death Guard, leading to Mortarion submitting to Nurgle's will. But this piece of lore was only introduced into the game's background in 2002.

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2002)

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2002), p53 — Typhus - The Traveller, Herald of Nurgle, Host of the Destroyer Hive

When Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard, allied his Legion with the forces of Warmaster Horus he did not know the price that would be paid for his decision. One amongst the Death Guard knew full well though, his name was Typhon and he had been recruited like so many others into Mortarion's forces on the feral world of Barbarus where the Primarch had grown up. Barbarus was home not only to men but also to inhuman overlords that preyed upon them. Typhon has some of their blood in his veins for he was possessed of formidable latent psychic powers that made him especially valuable as a recruit. Even as Mortarion led his Death Guard on the Emperor's Great Crusade Typhon communed with the Dark Powers.

Typhon rose to the rank of Captain, commander of the battleship Terminus Est and a full company of the Death Guard. When the Death Guard joined Horus it was he who slew the Death Guard's Navigators claiming their loyalty was still to the Emperor. It was he who promised Mortarion that his powers could lead the Death Guard through the Warp to Terra and it was he who led them to damnation, becalmed in the Warp, adrift and helpless.

When the Destroyer Plague came and the Death Guard for all their resilience were struck down, Typhon received his reward from his true master, Nurgle, Lord of Decay. As the last member of the Death Guard fell, Typhon absorbed the full power of this most terrible plague. His body became a vessel for the ultimate corruption, his armour became a hive of pestilence. He was Typhon no longer, now he was Typhus, Herald of Nurgle and the host of the Destroyer Hive.

In the Eye of Terror Mortarion shaped his Daemon World to resemble Barbarus. Typhus was sickened by the sentimentality. His loyalty was to Nurgle and Nurgle waxed strong when mortals feared death. Taking his ship and his followers Typhus returned again and again to the mortal realms and the legend of the traveller, the Herald of Nurgle was born. The rewards granted him by Nurgle are testament to a score of blighted worlds and countless damned souls.

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Typhus may be included in any Death Guard Chaos Space Marine army of at least 1,500 points as its Chaos Lord. He may be accompanied by a retinue of Chosen selected as normal but must otherwise be fielded exactly as specified.

Wargear and Gifts: Mark of Nurgle, Sorcerer, Daemonic Essence (+1 Wound, included in profile), Daemonic Visage, Nurgle's Rot, Nurgling Infestation, Terminator armour, Manreaper, Warp Talisman.

Psychic Abilities: Wind of Chaos; minor powers: Affliction and Miasma of Pestilence.

Destroyer Hive: Typhus' armour and body are host to a horrific plague that manifests as a swarm of insects that pour from the cracks and vents in his armour. When he charges into combat he counts as using frag and blight grenades. When he is charged Typhus and his retinue (if any) count as being in cover. In addition, the Nurgle's Rot carried by Typhus causes wounds on a 5+ instead of a 6.

Independent Character: Unless accompanied by a retinue Typhus is an independent character and all the rules regarding independent characters apply to him. See the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook for full details on independent characters.

Codex: Eye of Terror (2003)

Codex: Eye of Terror (2003), p8 — Creeping Death

As the end of the forty-first millennium drew closer, the first signs that Abaddon's long-feared attack was imminent came in the form of numerous sightings of drifting vessels emerging from the Warp in the surrounding sectors. All were converging on the core systems of each sub sector and, while this number of space hulks was rare, it was not unheard of. System defence ships scrambled to intercept them and prevent them from reaching their systems' inhabited worlds. The vessels of the Adeptus Astartes boarded those they could, but numbers were limited. The Space Marines found them to be twisted and disease-ridden nightmares, encrusted with all manner of necrotic matter and toxic filth. Subsequently, every such vessel encountered was destroyed with torpedoes and bombardment cannons, but for some it was already too late.

With a synchronicity that could not have been coincidence, outbreaks of virulent sickness erupted among Imperial Navy crews within a day of a reported sighting of the dreaded Chaos vessel Plagueclaw in the outer reaches of the Urthwart system by Captain Roark of the Dauntless class cruiser Duke Lurstophan. As the sickness spread throughout the region's naval forces, and the number of ships fit for duty fell exponentially, even more hulks dropped from the Warp, converging on vital strategic worlds. Ships from neighbouring sub sectors rushed to destroy the hulks and a small, ad hoc fleet was assembled at Belis Corona under the command of Admiral Quarren. The fleet surged from port and began the hunt for the Plagueclaw, though they were to encounter something far, far worse. In the shadow of the Frenerax Dust Cloud, the fleet was ambushed by a force of Chaos warships led by the Terminus Est, flagship of the Herald of Nurgle, Typhus himself. The battle was short and bloody, with several Imperial ships crippled in the opening salvo of torpedoes, while others were overrun by vile, diseased creatures that vomited forth from loathsome boarding craft. Admiral Quarren recovered well and rallied his forces superbly, counterattacking and fighting his way clear of the trap. Typhus did not pursue and the majority of Quarren's fleet was able to limp back to port. The Battle of Frenerax had been a costly disaster, but there was worse to come.

During the return journey to Belis Corona, thousands of crewmen sickened and died and only with the help of system pilots was the fleet able to dock safely. But if the situation at Belis Corona was bad, it was worse elsewhere. Many of the plague hulks had slipped through the defensive net and the same contagion that had struck down the ships' crews was spreading like wildfire through many inhabited worlds in the Cadian and Agripinaa sectors as well as those of the Belis Corona sub sector. The Hive world of Subiaco Diablo proved to be an ideal breeding ground for the unknown plague and was quickly quarantined by officers from the Officio Medicae, but not before millions had already perished. Within a month, a dozen other worlds reported cases of the plague and panic spread as transit between neighbouring sectors was halted in an effort to stem further infection.

As the epidemic spread, apocalyptic sects began appearing on every world afflicted, preaching that the Emperor's wrath had descended upon them and was a punishment for their sins of wickedness and vice. Only the faithful would be spared the Curse of Unbelief and hordes of flagellating devotees filled the streets of every world around the Eye of Terror. The continued health of these fanatics gave their words the sheen of truth and millions flocked to hear their fiery rhetoric. The plague continued to spread, but it was on Subiaco Diablo that the true horror of the plague was finally revealed. To the shock and disgust of the planet's inhabitants, the mass graves deep in the ash plains heaved and split, the corpses of those who had perished in the plague climbing from the lime-encrusted ground. Soon millions of shambling corpses were advancing on the hive, clawing their way inside and attacking the weakened inhabitants.

Within months, plague zombies were climbing from their graves on scores of worlds throughout the Belis Corona and Agripinaa sectors, and Imperial forces were stretched to the limit in containing these abominations as well as mobs of flagellating zealots who burned medicae ward facilities to the ground in their misguided attempts to halt the plague. Paralysed by the sheer scale of the epidemic, the Naval forces in these regions were completely unprepared for the vast Chaos fleet that emerged at the edge of the Subiaco Diablo system and surged into Imperial space. The Herald of Nurgle, the Traveller, Typhus of the Death Guard had come to reap the harvest of his plague, and nothing stood ready to stop him.

Codex: Eye of Terror (2003), p13-14 — The Storm Breaks

As part of the constant vigil around the Eye of Terror, highly trained units of Kasrkin were pushed into the swirling maelstrom, desperate to find some indication of where the first blow would land. Astropathic divination pointed towards the blighted world of Urthwart, where a massive force was believed to be gathering. Urthwart was a world taken by Chaos, its population enslaved and sacrificed to the dark gods. The Kasrkin found nothing alive on Urthwart, merely death and hideous plague zombies infected with the Curse on Unbelief. But as the Kasrkin prepared to withdraw, frantic vox communication from their ships in orbit reported numerous vessels advancing on Urthwart from the Eye of Terror. The Kasrkin fell back to their dropships and attempted to return to their carriers, but it was already too late. The Imperial ships were either crippled or had been forced to disengage and make for Cadia. There was to be no escape and the Cadians were stranded on Urthwart as a massive vessel, larger than the most gargantuan capital ship approached them: the Planet Killer.

Oblivious to their fate, the Cadians could do nothing as the incomprehensible power of the Planet Killer was unleashed in a devastating lance of energy that bored through the planet's crust and sundered the very bedrock. The land split and the planet's core exploded, breaking Urthwart into spinning pieces of molten rock. The death of Urthwart echoed in the Warp, blowing out the encroaching warp storms, and every telepath within a thousand light years felt its death scream. As Urthwart collapsed in on iteself, a Chaos fleet of hundreds of warships and hulking transports surged from the depths of the Eye of Terror towards Cadia. The diseased Plagueclaw and Terminus Est, along with a massive flotilla of plague hulks, emerged in the Subiaco Diablo system and began heading deep into the pestilence-wracked sector. Alongside the Chaos fleet, and guarded by the Despoiler class battleships Merciless Death and Fortress of Agony, came two hideously altered Blackstone Fortresses. Where once they had served the Imperium as Naval bases, they now resembled twisted and mutated cathedrals, dedicated only to blood and death.

Naval patrols, forewarned by the surviving Astropaths on Belisar, fell back before the tide of corrupted vessels, desperately calling for aid from neighbouring sectors. The ban on transit between sectors was still in force and precious hours were wasted as Naval captains fought to overcome the bureaucracy of the Officio Medicae who attempted to prevent them from press-ganging their crews back into service. Those ships that could be mustered gathered in the Ormantep system under the command of Admiral Pulaski, ready to fight and die to give the defenders on Cadia whatever time they could buy with their lives. Unlike many other naval battles, there was no jockeying for advantaeous positions by the foes. The Chaos fleet obviously intended to batter its way through the Imperial Navy and the two fleets clashed in the shadow of the Ilthirium Belt, a mineral rich asteroid field plundered by the mining hulks of Ormantep.

Battle was joined and the horrendously outnumbered loyalist fleet fought in the grand tradition of the Imperial Navy, with courage, honour and steadfastness. A dozen vessels were crippled in the opening moments of the battle, either by wave after wave of torpedoes or constant attack runs of Doomfire bombers, but the rest of the fleet fought on. As both fleets intermingled and the battle became a desperate, close quarters engagement, with horrific damage being inflicted on both sides, a portion of the Chaos fleet split from the main battle and surged past the heavily engaged Navy towards the Agripinaa sector. For long hours the two fleets pounded one another, and all hope seemed lost when Admiral Pulaski's flagship, Honour and Duty, was destroyed in a catastrophic plasma drive explosion. The Imperial defenders had commended their souls to the Emperor when several Chaos warships that had assumed blocking positions suddenly exploded as the warships of Battlefleet Agripinaa caught the Chaos fleet off guard. Led by Admiral Quarren, the newly arrived Imperial reinforcements cleared a path for the beleaguered Navy to disengage from the battle and withdraw to Demios Binary.

Quarren had saved what remained of the fleet, but in doing so had left the way clear for the splinter fleet of Chaos vessels to breach the defences of the Agripinaa sector. With little or nothing to prevent the Chaos ships from entering each planet's orbit, the systems of the Agripinaa sector were wide open to attack by the diseased followers of the Plague God. Soon the worlds of this and the Belis Corona sub sector became nightmare visions of hell, mud, horror and war. On Amistel Majoris, cursed Plague Marines of Nurgle landed and decimated much of the local defence forces before the forces of the Drookian Fen Guard were able to effect planetfall and bolster the embattled defenders. Plague took many hundreds of lives and the once verdant fields of this prosperous world were reduced to desolate, corpse choked plains, with bodies piled ten deep in every crater. Colonel Pertaj orchestrated a masterful defence, devising a cunning series of trench systems to confound the foe and lead them into deadly fire traps. But the colonel never lived to see his defences in action as the plague struck him down before the first major engagement of the war. Space Marines from the Howling Griffons Chapter fought their way through the Chaos blockade, escorting the ships of the Legio Astorum, to man the defences as the first wave of attackers struck. Only the Space Marines, with their blessed power armour, and Titans could survive the toxin-ridden battlefields of this plague front and the normally lightning fast warfare practised by the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes bogged down into gruelling trench fighting. Both sides fed their forces into the meat grinder of battle, neither willing to surrender the world to the other.

On Lelithar, the originating world of the Voice, Imperial Guard soldiers of the Jouran Dragoons, together with Warlord Titans of the Legio Ignatum landed at Gorgosa and laid siege to the captured Imperial palace, said to be the operational headquarters of the Voice. The resultant siege decimated much of Lelithar's capital city and cost the lives of millions of people as the city's populace rose to fight the soldiers of the Imperial Guard. Supported by the Death Spectres Chapter, the siege continues to grind mercilessly towards an uncertain conclusion.

Plague swept across the face of every world and as many soldiers fell to disease as to the weapons of the enemy. In space, Admiral Quarren led the battered fleet in a fighting retreat back to Cadia and stationed it in a defensive posture in conjunction with the three Ramilies class star forts in orbit. The Chaos fleet advanced towards Cadia, stopping only to allow the Blackstone Fortresses to scour the Demios Binary to a barren rock. Lightning arcs of incandescent energies razed the planet's surface bare, killing millions of Imperial servants and destroying every structure in a matter of hours. Chaos vessels quickly overwhelmed the orbital defences of Solar Mariatus, the outermost planet of the Cadian system, and hundreds of dropships carrying traitor regiments of Volscani Cataphracts descended to the surface, attacking the mining outposts and capturing the valuable ore refineries from the defending units of the Cadian 23rd.

Here, the traitor forces established a forward base of operations from which to launch attacks throughout the system. St. Josmane's Hope fell soon after, the inmates of this military prison rising up against their gaolers as the first waves of the Violators renegade Space Marines attacked. Brutal, close-quarters fighting erupted all across the continent-sized prison and many of the guards kept a bullet for themselves rather than be taken by the frenzied inmates. Welcoming the traitor forces as liberators, the inmates were to be horrifyingly disabused of this notion as those allowed to live were instead taken as slaves for the Chaos fleet or conscripted into its armies. Enemy ships spread throughout the Cadian system, several being picked off by shadowy Eldar vessels that vanished as mysteriously as they arrived, but the bulk of the Chaos fleet advanced directly on Cadia.

Admiral Quarren had done what he could, but the overwhelming Chaos fleet could not be stopped and after three days of hard fighting, the majority of his ships had been either crippled or destroyed. Those vessels that could escape fled to the Forge world of Kantrael in an attempt to refit and rearm in time to make a difference, but there were precious few of them. A single Ramilies star fort fell to the invaders, the remaining two managing to overload their reactors and self-destruct before the enemy could consolidate their hold upon them. With the space around Cadia secured, orbital bombardments hammered the planet's surface and, one by one, the defence batteries were silenced. Hundreds of cargo hulks moved into orbit and disgorged swarms of landing craft that streaked through the planet's upper atmosphere.

The invasion of Cadia had begun.

Codex: Eye of Terror (2003), p16 — The Forces of Abaddon the Despoiler

Recorded Traitor Legiones Astartes

Alpha Legion
20+ unconfirmed sightings - all sectors
Black Legion
Major presence - all sectors
Death Guard
Major presence - Sabiaco Diablo
Emperor's Children
Unconfirmed actions against Eldar reported
Iron Warriors
Suspected presence - Cadian system
Night Lords
Unconfirmed reports - all sectors
Sons of Malice
Active - Scelus sector
Thousand Sons
Active - Caliban and Prospero sectors
Violators
3 confirmed actions - Cadian sector
Warp Ghosts
Unconfirmed sighting - Agripinaa system
World Eaters
Significant involvement - all sectors
Word Bearers
Active - rear echelon sectors

Known Traitor Legio Titanicus

Deaths Heads
Major presence confirmed - Cadia
Death Stalkers
Unconfirmed involvement - Cadia
Fire Masters
Limited presence - Cadian sector
Iron Skulls
Major force sighted - Vorga Torq
Legio Vulcanum I
4 unconfirmed assaults - Belisar and Kromat
Legio Vulcanum II
Suspected presence - Sabiaco Diablo

Major Traitor Guard Units

5th Columnus
Presence confirmed - Belis Corona
666th Regiment of Foot
Confirmed presence - Cadia
Discilian Apostates
Unconfirmed
Jenen Ironclads
Major presence - Kromat system
Sentrek Freemen
3 suspected sightings - Barisa system
The Traitor 9th
Significant presence  Kantrael system
Ubridius Light Infantry
Major presence  Cadian sector
Volscani Cataphracts
Active - Cadia
++Continued in File IO/57++

Estimated Mutant Hordes

The Annointed of Aq'si
6 attacks confirmed - Belisar system
The Shyis'slaa
Linked to cult uprisings - Albitern system
The Stigmatus Covenant
Significant presence - Mackan system
The Unsanctified
Unconfirmed involvement - Bar-el system
++Continued in File DE/80++

Recorded Traitor Fleet Units

+Estimated Traitor Fleet Assets

Battle Fleets
est. 38
Blackstone Fortresses
2
'Wolf Pack' Squadrons
est. 19
+Battlefleets of Note
The Grand Fleet of the Despoiler
7 Battleships
13 heavy cruisers
est. 23 cruiser squadrons
est. 30 escort squadrons
The Fleet of Kosolax the Foresworn
1 Battleship
3 cruiser squadrons
8 escort squadrons
The Plague Fleet of Typhus, Herald of Nurgle
Terminus Est
2 Battleships
3 heavy cruisers
5 cruiser squadrons
est. 12 escort squadrons
+Vessels of Note
Plagueclaw
Unknown class
Darkblood
Styx class heavy cruiser
Planet Killer
Undesignated class capital vessel
Merciless Death
Despoiler class battleship
Fortress of Agony
Despoiler class battleship
++Continued in File WW/33++

Chapter Approved 2004 (2003)

Death Guard versus Imperial Guard

Typhus leads the forces of Nurgle as they spread their diseases among the Cadian defenders.

Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 16 (2003)

Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 16 (2003), p5-7 — The Spreading Plague

As if answering some unspoken signal, the destruction of Urthwart coincided precisely with the emergence of Typhus' Plaguefleet, the fiend himself in command at the helm of his flagship, Terminus Est. The fleet was immense, accompanied most alarmingly by two Blackstone fortresses (relics of Abaddon's previous incursions into the Gothic sector) though now hideously altered so as to appear artefacts of Chaos rather than the ancient bastions they once were.

If a stand was to be made, it was now. The Imperial fleet amassed at Ormantep, within the boundaries of a vast asteroid belt known as the Ilithrium Belt. It was here that the forces of the Imperium and those of the Dark Gods at last came face to face. The disruptive effect of the asteroid belt forced the fleets into brutally close range combat. Hordes of Chaos attack craft and torpedoes unleashed at close range where their accuracy was highest decimated the Imperial fleet. Even the fleet flagship, Honour and Duty, under the command of Admiral Pulaski, fell prey to the hungry guns of Chaos and was vaporised as its internal damage got the better of the ancient vessel.

While strength of numbers and sheer firepower may have been advantages that lay squarely in the hands of Chaos, unbreakable faith and courage remained as ever the epitome of the Imperial Navy. If victory could not be gained at Ilithrium, defeat would at least be stalled. Captain Agenager, adopting control of the fleet after Pulaski's demise, ordered the fleet into a cross formation, arranging their broadsides against the Chaos fleet where vessels could defend one another with massed firepower and turrets, fending off enemy attack craft and creating a vicious zone of crossfire to their port and starboard. The immobility of the formation left Agenager with little hope of escape, but would at least stall the Chaos advance. With his decision made, Agenager and his fleet steeled themselves for the battle, praying only that their sacrifice would not be in vain.

In the event, the sacrifice was not to be asked of them. As the Chaos fleet found itself stubbed by the unbreakable cross formation arrayed against them, its flanks first buckled then collapsed utterly as the mighty Battlefleet Agripinaa arrived to unleash its fury upon the traitors. It was immediately apparent to Admiral Quarren, arriving at the head of Battlefleet Agripinaa, that a final victory could not be achieved. Instead, his reinforcements could provide only respite and the chance of escape to their comrades - a chance which all the assembled Imperial Navy vessels gladly took, departing at once for the relative safety of port at Deimos Binary.

The Imperial retreat, while undoubtedly successful in saving dozens of Imperial warships, allowed the rapidly separating remnants of the Chaos fleet to spread throughout the Agripinaa sector at will. With the imperial fleet not yet able to stage a rapid counter attack, the worlds of the sector rapidly fell prey to the followers of Chaos. Instead, Quarren returned speedily to Cadia, hoping that the fleet could regroup there, before the Chaos onslaught reached that most crucial of worlds. Quarren deployed the fleet in a blockade around Cadia, and there made a most valiant of stands, but ultimately it was useless. The Imperial fleet was now too little and too damaged to survive the onslaught of Chaos from all sides. Quarren and his fleet held out for three long days, yet all the while the tide of Traitor vessels rolled on relentless. In time, their defences were breached and Quarren was left with no option but to retreat and preserve what he could of the fleet. Cadia's fate, the Admiral reluctantly admitted, would be decided on its own blooded soil, not in the cold vacuum of space about it...

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2007)

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2007), p55 — Typhus: Host of the Destroyer Hive

The most feared of all the Plague Fleet commanders is Typhus. From his ancient warship the Terminus Est, Typhus has led countless attacks against the Imperium, spreading contagion and misery on scores of worlds.

That Typhus has been truly blessed by Nurgle is indisputable. When the Death Guard were trapped in the Warp, adrift and dying from the Destroyer Plague, Typhus was the only survivor of the Terminus Est's crew. Rather than dying from the virulent disease that had rampaged through his crew, Typhus absorbed the full power of the Destroyer Plague. His body became a vessel for this ultimate corruption, swelling in size, his organs distending and writhing with foulsome energy. His skin and armour bonded, and great pestilential funnels grew from his body, spewing forth a miasma of destruction. Typhus had become the Host of the Destroyer Hive.

When Mortarion and the Death Guard settled on the Plague Planet, there were those amongst the Legion who split from their Primarch. Typhus chose to remain with the Terminus Est and recruited a new crew. Several other captains joined him, and Typhus' Plague Fleet left to find its own fate. For ten thousand years, Typhus has been a blight upon Imperial shipping and worlds around the Eye of Terror. He unleashed Nurgle's Rot upon Carandinis VII and Protheus, instigated the Jonah's World Pandemic, wiped out half the population of Florins with the Red Flux, and has killed millions with the Destroyer Plague. In recent years, the Plague Fleet of Nurgle has been sighted many times in the area around the Cadian Gate.

In its wake, a Zombie Plague has been spreading. The unfortunate victims of this contagion die a long, agonising death, but their suffering does not end there. Those that fall to this Warp-disease do not stay dead - their bodies are reanimated by the Chaos infection, creating Plague Zombies whose bite carries the disease. Like a stain spreading across the stars, the Zombie Plague has been carried by Typhus' fleet to more and more star systems, and once it has taken hold, it is almost impossible to stop. Millions have already died and been returned to undeath, and it is likely that Typhus' victims will number in the billions before the plague runs its course. By then, Typhus will doubtless be enacting a new and deadly diabolic plot.

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Wargear

Mark of Nurgle (included in profile), Terminator armour, personal icon, Manreaper.

Special Rules

Independent Character, Fearless, Feel no Pain.

Herald of Nurgle: Typhus is a Psyker and has the Wind of Chaos and Nurgle's Rot psychic powers. In addition, Typhus always successfully passes his Psychic tests when using these two powers (and so is also immune to the effects of Perils of the Warp).

Manreaper: This lethal instrument of death is shaped like a gigantic scythe. The Manreaper is both a Daemon Weapon and a Force weapon. Treat the Manreaper as a normal Daemon weapon, and in addition any model wounded but not killed by the Manreaper can be killed by Typhus with a successful Psychic test, following all the rules for a normal force weapon. Typhus may take this test even if he has used one of this psychic powers in the same turn.

Destroyer Hive: Typhus' body is host to a horrific plague that manifests as a swarm of insects that pour from the cracks and vents in his armour. Typhus counts as using frag and blight grenades (See page 38).

Typhus

Captain of the Plagueship Terminus Est, Typhus' Terminator armour is host to a swarm of flies that carry the deadly Destroyer Plague.

Black Crusade (2011)

Typhus

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2007)

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2012), p24 — The Long War

41st Millennium

[...]

757.M41 The Plague that Walks

The first outbreak of the zombie plague occurs on Hydra Minoris after Typhus, and his Death Guard foot soldiers, penetrate to the heart of its capital hive. As the living begin to fall prey to the painful disease, its true horror is revealed; the dead victims begin to rise up and attack the living. The resultant Imperial quarantine traps 23 billion uninfected citizens alongside a rising tide of the undead.

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2012), p25 — The Long War

969.M41 The Terminus Est

The plagueship Terminus Est is sighted in the Cando System. It disappears soon after, but it is already too late. The zombie plague ravages all of the planets in the system over the following months, exposing the worst in human nature as brother turns against brother in their desperation to survive.

Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2012), p61 — Typhus

'I shall reap a terrible bounty from the death that I sow in your name, Father Nurgle...'

Typhus, Host of the Destroyer Hive, is the most feared of all Plague Fleet commanders. From his ancient warship, the Terminus Est, Typhus spreads contagion and misery across the galaxy. That Typhus has been truly blessed by Nurgle is indisputable. When the Death Guard were adrift in the Warp, dying from the Destroyer Plague, Typhus absorbed the full power of the disease. Typhus became a vessel for this ultimate corruption. Swelling in size, his skin and armour bonded, and great pestilential funnels grew from his body, spewing forth a miasma of destruction. Typhus has become the host of the Destroyer Hive.

After the Horus Heresy, Typhus gathered a hideous Plague Fleet and struck out into space upon the Terminus Est. For ten thousand years he has been a blight upon Imperial worlds. He unleashed Nurgle's Rot upon Carandinis VII and Protheus, instigated the Jonah's World Pandemic, and has killed millions with the Destroyer Hive. In recent years, his fleet has been sighted many times near the Cadian Gate.

In the fleet's wake, a new plague has been spreading - one from which even death is no release - for it seems that even the change between life and death can be reversed by Nurgle's gift. The unfortunate victims of the contagion suffer a long, agonising demise, but those who fall to this Warp disease do not stay dead. Their bodies are soon reanimated by the Chaos infection, creating Plague Zombies whose bites carry the disease to new victims. Once it has taken hold, it is almost impossible to stop. Billions have already died and been returned to undeath, and it is likely that Typhus' victims will number in the trillions before the plague runs its course.

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Unit Type

Infantry (Character).

Wargear

Terminator armour (pg 68), blight grenades (pg 66).

Warlord Trait

Lord of Terror (pg 28).

Special Rules

Champion of Chaos (pg 28), Fearless, Feel No Pain, Independent Character, Mark of Nurgle (pg 30), Psyker (Mastery Level 2), Veterans of the Long War (pg 30).

The Destroyer Hive: Once per game, in any Assault phase, Typhus can unleash the Destroyer Hive instead of attacking. At the start of Typhus' Initiative Step, place a large blast marker with the hole centred over Typhus (this does not scatter). All units (friend and foe) suffer a number of hits equal to the number of models from their unit that are at least partially under the large blast marker. These hits are resolved at Strength 4 AP2 and have the Ignores Cover special rule. Do not count Typhus when working out how many hits are caused. Wounds from this attack cannot be allocated to Typhus.

Plague Zombies: Any Chaos Cultist units (see the army list, pg 95) in the same army as Typhus can be nominated as Plague Zombies. Plague Zombies are Chaos Cultists that have the Fearless, Feel No Pain and Slow and Purposeful special rules, and cannot purchase options. They are armed with a single close combat weapon - any guns are used strictly for the purposes of clubbing their victims to death!

Psyker

Typhus must generate all of his powers from the Nurgle discipline.

Chaos Artefact

Manreaper: This rusted and corrupted scythe has been dipped in the filth seeping from the throne of Nurgle itself.

RangeSAPType
-+22Melee, Daemon Weapon, Force, Unwieldy

The Tome of Decay (2014)

Typhus

Codex Supplement: Traitor Legions (2016)

Typhus and the Death Guard

The Death Guard bring the supernatural diseases of Nurgle to the material universe. Tough and relentless, they are impervious to pain.

Plague Colony

Codex Supplement: Traitor Legions (2016), p70 — Plague Colony

Warbands of Plague Marines are often found organised in squads of seven, banded together into groups of seven squads. An echo of the Death Guard Legion's organisational model at its height, seven is also the sacred number of the Legion's patron power, and they believe that by forming themselves in multiples of that number they carry the favour of the Chaos God Nurgle. Whether this organisation draws the attention and sorcerous blessing of the Plague God or not, the manner in which the Plague Marines carry themselves to war still reflects the hand of Mortarion, the grim Primarch who forged them, shaped them, then led them to their damnation. The Plague Marines revel in the contamination of Imperial worlds, sowing pestilence and contagion wherever they go and inflicting cruel and agonising deaths on a planetary scale.

Formation

Restrictions

This is a Death Guard Detachment (see pg 116).

Special Rules

Enervating Pestilential Aura: Enemy models within 7" of any Plague Colony units at the start of the Fight sub-phase must reduce their Initiative and Weapon Skill by 1 for the duration of the phase. If this Formation includes the maximum number of units at the start of the battle, then enemy models within 7" of any Plague Colony unit at the start of the Fight sub-phase must also reduce their Toughness by 1 for the duration of the phase.

Warhammer 40,000 (2017)

Warhammer 40,000 (2017), p154-159 — War Zone: Ultramar

Greedy eyes looked out from the roiling warp. They lingered long over the southern reaches of Ultima Segmentum. Nurgle wanted them for his own. He wished to lavish his gifts upon them, to watch their citizens sprout new growths and lament while other parts rotted and sloughed off.

The worlds of Ultramar were prosperous, well governed and aesthetically beautiful. It is no wonder that such a gem drew the eager eye of Nurgle. Wishing to annex those worlds directly into his own Garden in the Realm of Chaos, the Father of Plagues set his minions to the task. After the Great Rift tore reality and flooded warp energies into the galaxy, Nurgle deemed the time was ripe. Where seeds of corruption had been planted, where the Plague That Walks, the Oozing Pox, and the Eyerot had decimated overcrowded hive worlds, there did Nurgle put forth his greatest efforts. As darkness closed over those worlds, new, virulent strains of those dreadful diseases started the cycle of death anew. This time, however, the cycle was completed, for there was life also. From the corpses of the fallen burst countless Nurglings. In the devastation that ensued, Cults of Corruption summoned further aid. The following battles - known by the Imperium as the Plague Wars - ended when three systems to the galactic north of Ultramar were corrupted and turned into the Scourge Stars. Calling upon three of his greatest commanders, Nurgle tasked them with next conquering Ultramar.

Ultramar Invaded

The first invaders to issue forth from the Scourge Stars were the Death Guard, led by their grim Primarch, Mortarion. His meticulously planned seven-part campaign would bring untold ruination to all of Ultramar. So began the first part  the War of Flies  including the assault of the Three Planets, the besieging of the hive world of Ardium, and the Creeping Doom offensive against Espandor and Drohl. Virus bombardments preceded the Death Guard. Once-gloried hive cities became pits, and agri worlds became flyblown wastes. The attacks were slow but relentless, wearing down the Ultramarines and their auxilia. With communications severed and relief forces cut off by fresh warp storms, the defenders were hard-pressed in a hundred locations across Ultramar. Then, Roboute Guilliman returned from his galaxy-spanning crusade. Tactically, Mortarion and his fellow commanders now found themselves evenly matched, their offensives blocked at every turn by the Ultramarines and their Primarch's precise counter-attacks. A new stage of the war had begun.

Macragge

In the early stages of the invasion of Ultramar, many different strikes were levelled at the capital world of Macragge. Whether Mortarion planned these events to probe the defences of the Ultramarines' home world, or merely aimed to tie down as many of the Imperial forces as he could, is unknown. All of the battles were short, sharp affairs, such as rapid strikes from Plague Drone forces, or cultist attacks attempting to deliver pox bombs into the heavily guarded defence networks. Whatever Mortarion's intent, the number and variety of the attacks steadily drained both morale and resources from Macragge until Primarch Guilliman returned and seized the initiative with his own strikes into Chaos-held territories.

The Realm of Ultramar

The March of Plagues

In attacking Ultramar, Mortarion was not alone. Two other commanders led massive armies out from the Scourge Stars, each seeking to win the contaminated glory of Nurgle's favour.

Ku'gath Plaguefather, a favoured Great Unclean One, led the Bubonicus legions into Ultramar. Typhus, First Captain of the Death Guard, commanded a Plague Fleet, a dilapidated rot-armada packed with Renegades, cultists and his own loyal Death Guard. Ku'gath's Daemon legions ravaged the Tartella System, which lay between the Scourge Stars and Ultramar, before manifesting on the garden world of Iax, an ideal place to nurture new diseases. The Plague Fleet, meanwhile, destroyed three of the six massive star fortresses that stood sentinel over Ultramar's shipping lanes. Even with Guilliman's return, the attacks were too many and too widespread for the defenders to contain. The timely arrival of the Ultramarines' successor Chapters, however, along with reinforcements from several forge worlds, allowed the Primarch to attempt to regain the initiative. Guilliman launched the Spear of Espandor counter-attack, hoping to buy the forces of the Imperium more time.

Deadlocked

Iax

The final battle of the Plague War was fought at First Landing, on Iax. Before the ruined citadel the Death Guard held the upper hand, their relentless assault all but unstoppable, when Mortarion was summoned back to the Scourge Stars to defend his holdings at the onset of the War in the Rift.

Across Ultramar, the Plague Wars escalated. Guilliman's brilliant counter-attacks staved off defeat, allowing him to stabilise fronts across several systems. The largest battles of the war, however, were still to come.

With Mortarion's Creeping Doom offensive mired in continent-spanning trench warfare in the Espandor System, the Daemon Primarch shifted his focus, joining forces with Ku'gath. Together, they sent their surviving forces to Parmenio and Iax simultaneously. On Parmenio, the largest armour and Titan battle of the war took place over the shell-ridden Plains of Hecatone. At the battle's height, Roboute Guilliman struck against Ku'gath's vanguard, slaying his lieutenant, Septicus, and shattering his Plague Guard. In space, Galatan - Ultramar's largest star fortress - attempted to provide support but was boarded by the Plague Fleet. Massive casualties ensued, including the loss of the Novamarines' Chapter Master. The Ultramarines and their auxilia made gains on Parmenio, and Guilliman led a relief force to Iax. Once a verdant garden world, it was in ruins when Primarch met Primarch. Guilliman confronted Mortarion, fighting to a deadlock before the Death Guard withdrew under cover of a virus bomb.

Forces of the Imperium

The defence of Ultramar was really a tale of three parts: the initial losses, where the defenders gave ground before the Death Guard onslaught; the stabilisation with the return of Primarch Guilliman; and finally, the seizing of the initiative with the Primarch's counter-attacks along with the final battle.

Defenders of Ultramar

Spear of Espandor

*Many Chapters arrived to lend aid to Ultramar and to fight beneath Roboute Guilliman. The Primarch and Lord Commander of the Imperium organised those Adeptus Astartes in less-than-company numbers into battle-brother battalions, using them for special missions and to shore up the Ultramar Auxilia.

The Plains of Hecatone
Defence of Gatalan
Battle of First Landing

Let them flee beneath cover of their virus bomb. By the Emperor, they shall be repaid tenfold for the evils they have wrought upon Ultramar.
— Roboute Guilliman

Forces of Chaos

The invasion of Ultramar began as separate spearheads, but as the campaigns slowed, Mortarion and Ku'gath formed an alliance. Unlike the Champions of the other Dark Gods, Nurgle's lieutenants were more capable of cooperation. This was not the case, however, between Typhus and Mortarion.

Invaders of Ultramar

Bubonic Force Infectus (Iax)
Siege Bringers (Ardium)
War of Flies Campaign
The Plains of Hecatone
Final Battle of Iax

Bursting with life. Bursting with life. Bursting with life.
— War Drone of the Sloughskins

Codex Adeptus Astartes: Space Marines (2017)

Codex Adeptus Astartes: Space Marines (2017), p24 — Ultramar

Even before the coming of the Noctis Aeterna, Ultramar faced a series of dire threats. Tendrils of several Tyranid Hive Fleets drifted inexorably towards Guilliman's realm. The Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, one of the greatest Ork warlords in the galaxy, led a monstrous Waaagh! from his anarchic domain with the intent of overrunning the Ultramarines' eastern defences. Yet the greatest threat of them all was that posed by the dark servants of Chaos. A vast horde of traitors, renegades, mutants and madmen fell upon Ultramar under the leadership of the foul Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn. And then came the Noctis Aeterna, and with it wave after wave of Daemon-filled warp storms. In the wake of these disasters, some of the greatest servants of Nurgle, the Chaos God of Plagues and Decay, fell upon the Ultramarines' stellar realm, seeking to corrupt the bucolic beauty of its worlds. The Plague Wars, as they came to be known, saw some of the greatest battles the Imperium had ever endured, with every inhabited planet of Ultramar suffering a staggering number of casualties.

Macragge, the capital world, saw fighting across its bleak rocky uplands as well as in its populated cities. The Ultramarines' sprawling fortress monastery - including the shrine in which Roboute Guilliman had lain in stasis for over seven millennia - came under concerted attack. The Bubonicus Legions, led by a favoured Great Unclean One known as Ku'gath Plaguefather, seized the nearby Tartella System before descending upon the planet of Iax, a garden world rich with life. The Espandor System suffered beneath the Creeping Doom offensive of the Daemon Primarch Mortarion and his Death Guard. On Parmenio a great armour battle took place, and throughout the sub-sector a naval battle raged, with defensive battle stations engaged by a Plague Fleet led by the Death Guard lord known as Typhus. Even the disciplined tactics and heroic sacrifices of the defenders were only enough to stave off defeat. Nurgle's followers pushed their befouling offensive forward, contaminating all they touched.

Breaking apart his Indomitus Crusade, Roboute Guilliman returned to aid his home system. Seeing that his only chance lay in seizing the initiative, the Primarch masterminded a brilliant campaign known as the Spear of Espandor. Rapid counter strikes and a series of daring boarding actions clawed back many of the foe's gains. Where the disparate Chaos armies fought separately, the defenders of Ultramar supported each other in every way they could, allowing Guilliman to slowly reverse the course of the war and put Nurgle's favoured commanders on the defensive. Utilising their superior numbers, the Chaos forces amassed for a final confrontation upon Iax. There they fought to a standstill, with Guilliman countering every ploy. Ultimately the Chaos forces escaped under the cover of a massive virus bomb. With little time to spare - for the galaxy remained riven with war - the Lord Commander of the Imperium organised the rebuilding of Ultramar, beginning with the defence networks, before leaving once more at the head of a retributive strike force.