Title: “Warhammer 40,000 Lore: The Plague Wars and the Battle of Ultramar”
In the grim darkness of the far future, a new cycle of death and rebirth was set in motion on Ultramar, a planet shrouded in eternal night. With the emergence of particularly virulent strains of diseases, life burst forth in the grotesque form of countless Nurglings from every fallen corpse. Amidst the chaos, Spoil Cults were born, calling forth allies from the Imperium to join their malevolent cause.
The ensuing campaigns, christened as ‘The Plague Wars’ by the denizens of the Imperium, concluded with three planetary systems to the galactic north of Ultramar tumbling into the chaotic abyss of the Scourge Stars. Nurgle, the Chaos God of Disease, then summoned his three finest Warlords, charging them with the daunting task of capturing the kingdom of Gilan itself.
Leading the charge from the Scourge Stars were the Death Guard under the command of their Primarch, Mortarion. Following his meticulously crafted seven-stage plan, Mortarion prepared to unleash unimaginable destruction upon all of Ultramar. The first phase, known as the War of the Flies, incorporated the assault on the Soall triple planet, the siege of the hive world of Ardium, and the Crouching Doom offensive against Bandor and Droll.
Each heretic landing was preceded by a viral bombardment that transformed once majestic metropolises into rotten pits and verdant agrarian worlds into moldy wastelands. The traitorous forces attacked with a slow, relentless determination, gradually wearing down the Ultramarines. To compound their woes, the humans found themselves deprived of communications and reinforcements as the warp storms raged.
In the midst of this desperate struggle, the Ultramarines’ Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, returned from his galaxy-spanning Crusade. His return marked a shift in the tide of battle as Mortarion and the other Nurgle Warlords lost their tactical advantage. The Ultramarines, under Guilliman’s leadership, deftly blocked every thrust of the Chaos worshippers, heralding the next stage of the war.
Leading the advance of the Plague Legions was Kugath, the Plague Father. Typhus, the First Captain of the Death Guard, commanded the Plague Fleet – an armada of rot-ridden starships filled with Marines. The Tarella system, lying between the Scourge Stars and Ultramar, was devastated by Kugath’s otherworldly host before they emerged on Iax, the garden planet.
The timely arrival of the Astartes Chapters of the 13th Legion and reinforcements from several world forges gave Guilliman an opportunity to retake the initiative. The Primarch launched the Spear of Espor counteroffensive, buying time for the allied forces.
The grand finale of this war was set on the planet Parmenio, where Guilliman and Mortarion, the two Primarchs, met again. This time, however, Mortarion unleashed the God Disease, a virus of unimaginable power born in Kugath’s cauldron. It was only the will of the Emperor himself that saved the Primarch of the Ultramarines from death at that moment.
Meanwhile, in the wider galaxy, the opening of the Great Rift marked the beginning of an era of psychic awakening that affected all inhabitants of the galaxy. The once rare gift of psykerhood became increasingly common. Taking advantage of this sudden surge of Immaterium energy, Magnus the Red intended to conduct a massive ritual to further erode the line between reality and the Warp. Fortunately, the Third Brotherhood of the Grey Knights and detachments of the Dark Angels chapter thwarted his plans, offering a glimmer of hope in the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Stay tuned for more tales from the grim darkness of the far future, where there is only war…
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