Codex: Chaos Daemons (2013), p47 — Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Rotten Paladins of the Plague God

The dull knell of bells and the humming of flies herald the arrival of Nurgle's Plaguebearers. Forming the rank and file of his pestilent legions, the Lesser Daemons of Nurgle shuffle forwards, their ripe bodies swollen with contagion and rife with the stench of decay. Each Daemon has a single rheumy eye and a horn sprouting from its skull - the mark of Nurgle's Rot that each bears through eternity.

It is the Plaguebearers' role to keep stock of new diseases and symptoms, and to maintain some semblance of order amongst Nurgle's naturally mischievous hordes. The Plaguebearers' obsessive need to organise is characterised by their constant counting as they try to calculate every new outbreak of plague. However, this monotonous chanting achieves very little - it is practically impossible to catalogue anything amidst the ever-changing nature of Chaos. This in no way discourages them, however, for they are the embodiment of the need to impose order upon a meaningless and uncaring world. In battle, their corpulent forms resist all but the most fearsome weaponry, and they wield rusted blades that corrupt flesh and rust metal in an instant. Unfortunately for the Plaguebearers, they are prone to losing count during combat, and they stand above their dying foes groaning in frustration before starting their count all over again.

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Plaguebearer	3	3	4	4	1	2	1	7	-
Plagueridden	3	3	4	4	1	2	2	7	-

Unit Type: Infantry. Plagueridden is Infantry (Character).

Daemonic Gifts: Plaguesword (pg 62).

Special Rules: Daemon of Nurgle (pg 26), Daemonic Instability (pg 26), Deep Strike.

Heralds of Nurgle

A mortal who resists the ravages of Nurgle's Rot for a significant time creates an unusually long incubation period for the nascent Plaguebearer, resulting in a larger, tougher individual known as a Herald of Nurgle. Such warriors are testaments to the futility of denying Nurgle's embrace.

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Herald of Nurgle	5	5	5	5	2	4	3	8	-

Unit Type: Infantry (Character).

Daemonic Gifts: Plaguesword (pg 62).

Special Rules: Daemon of Nurgle (pg 26), Daemonic Instability (pg 26), Deep Strike, Independent Character.

Psyker: A Herald of Nurgle that is upgraded to be a Psyker generates his powers from the Biomancy and Plague disciplines.

Nurgle's Rot

Chief among the many gifts that Father Nurgle has granted an ungrateful galaxy is Nurgle's Rot. It is his most successful endeavour - incurable, highly infectious and with a very, very slow course. This perfect illness does not kill its host quickly; rather it slowly turns the victim's body into a bloated, rotting, living corpse. At the same time, it is eroding the soul, painfully corrupting the spirit to the point where the tortured victim has to choose between the only two routes left open to him: either end his own life, or fully embrace the ways of Father Nurgle, delighting in disease and putrescence, revelling in buboes and sickness until death puts an end to his suffering. Only then will he realise the true blessing that has been visited upon him, as his soul is reborn in Nurgle's realm, in the immortal shape of a new Plaguebearer.