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In the Warhammer 40,000 setting, the Pestilaan Light Cruiser is a starship used by the followers of Nurgle, corrupted to suit their preferred environmental conditions.
The name is a reference to Pestilaan, a character created by Tim Huckelbery (then the head of Games Workshop USA Customer Services Department) and published in Citadel Journal #17 in 1996. By 2011, when Battlefleet Koronus was published, Tim was working at Fantasy Flight Games and (amongst other roles) was a writer/developer on Battlefleet Koronus, sneaking in a reference to his old character's name. It is explicable in that the Imperium's classification of the starship may relate to them first encountering such a vessel while it was under the command of Pestilaan.
Hull: Light Cruiser
Class: Chaos Pestilaan-class light cruiser
Dimensions: 5 km long, .9 km abeam approx.
Mass: 39 megatonnes approx.
Crew: 50,000 crew approx., plus countless lesser daemons
Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration
A disturbing predator in the Expanse, Pestilaan-class ships appear bloated and sluggish with tarnished, rusted metal, open sores scattered across the hull and odd organic protrusions. Such appearances belie the power of such a vessel, as its very diseased nature drives the energies that sustain both it and its crew. It is thought that the Pestilaan class is a long forgotten ancient light cruiser, upgunned and armoured at the price of speed. Most of the Pestilaans are thought to be these once-proud vessels, now debased into unclean servitude after mutiny or capture by the Archenemy.
Speed: 5
Manoeuvrability: +5
Detection: +10
Void Shields: 1
Armour: 22
Hull Integrity: 65
Morale: 100
Crew Population: 100
Crew Rating: Competent (30)
Turret Rating: 1
Weapon Capacity: 1 Dorsal, 1 Prow, 1 Port, 1 Starboard
Retrofitted Saturine-pattern drive, Warp Drive, Malfunctioning Gellar Field, Void Shield Array, Shrine Bridge, Rotting Crew Quarters, Fungal Respirators
Port and Starboard Hellus Macrocannon Broadsides: (Macrobattery; Strength 5; Damage 1d10+3; Crit Rating 4; Range 6)
Dorsal Melta-cannons: (Macrobattery; Strength 3; Damage 1d10+4; Crit Rating 3; Range 3)
Prow Torpedo Tubes: (Torpedo Tubes; Strength 4; Damage 2d10+10; Range 40; Terminal Penetration [1]) These torpedo tubes are loaded with virus torpedoes (see page 8) but can be loaded with boarding torpedoes. This Component has 32 torpedoes.
Plagueship: These vessels are resplendent with the very finest of sicknesses and diseases, to the point where any attempt to enter it is unthinkable. Attempts to board or conduct Hit and Run attacks on this vessel automatically fail by 1d5+3 Degrees of Failure.
Nurgle's Rot: The crew of this ship are all infected with horrific diseases. Whenever this vessel conducts or is the target of a Hit and Run attack or Boarding Action, the opponent automatically loses an additional 1d5 Crew Population and Morale. There is also a 50% change that some disease will catch, and the ship will suffer a long-term ship sickness (Rogue Trader core rulebook page 227). In this case, the Medicae Test is Very Hard (-30), and the sickness does its damage once a week until contained.