Typhus

Overview

Typhus, once Calas Typhon, was the Death Guard's First Captain. He betrayed his Legion to Nurgle, and his body now hosts the Destroyer Hive, a swarm of plague flies. As the Traveller, he spreads disease and the Plague Zombie curse across the stars.

He carries the Manreaper, a great scythe that also channels his psychic power, and his armour has grown into a single bloated, fly-ridden shell. Wherever he travels, his plague turns populations into shambling dead. He is one of the most feared Chaos champions and an icon of Nurgle's endless, rotting abundance. Typhus was once Calas Typhon of Barbarus, First Captain of the Death Guard and a secret psyker. During the Heresy he steered the Legion toward Nurgle and became the host of the Destroyer Hive. Swollen and fused to his armour, he now pours out a living swarm of pestilence. After the Heresy he grew disgusted with Mortarion's sentimentality on the Plague Planet. He took a sepsis cohort into the Imperium to spread Nurgle's gifts himself, and he answers his primarch's call only when the cause is great.

Origins

He was born on Barbarus and secretly carried psychic witch-blood. Mortarion trusted him, raised him to First Captain, and remained unaware of his growing contact with Chaos through the Word Bearers.

He kept his psychic gift hidden from Mortarion, who hated psykers. During the Heresy he steered the Death Guard fleet into a Warp storm on the way to Terra. The Legion was struck by the Destroyer Plague, and Mortarion, in desperation, swore himself and his sons to Nurgle. Typhon emerged as Typhus, the foremost of Nurgle's champions among the Death Guard.

As Calas Typhon he was known for an almost unnatural toughness. On Madrighoul he threw himself onto a faulty krak grenade to save a squad of Sisters of Silence and discharged himself from the Apothecarion in less than a week. Even the Deathshroud, Mortarion's forty-nine chosen guards, were in awe of him, and the Legion obeyed him out of fear as well as respect. In the Heresy he took half the Death Guard on a campaign against the Dark Angels. Corswain pursued him to the Zaramund system, where Luther and his Calibanite forces took the Death Guard in and hid their fleet from Corswain.

Key events

1. Led a Death Guard splinter fleet during the Heresy, then rejoined Mortarion at the instruction of Erebus.
2. Guided the Death Guard fleet into the warp storm where the Destroyer Plague struck and the Legion was given to Nurgle.
3. Became the host of the Destroyer Hive and the Herald of Nurgle.
4. Spread the Zombie Plague in the Imperium and fought on many plague worlds.
5. Fought in the Plague Wars of Ultramar and invaded the Charadon System, a campaign that Be'lakor also invaded as a rival.

On Terra he worked with Perturabo, Abaddon and the Dark Apostle Zardu Layak, attacked the Colossi Gate against Jaghatai Khan, Valdor and Raldoron, and was sent by Mortarion to retake the Astronomican from Corswain. He tried to persuade Dark Angels Librarians such as Zahariel to give it up without a fight. Then he broke into the Hollow Mountain against Sigismund's Imperial Fists, until Euphrati Keeler led a sacrificial prayer among the faithful. Its psychic backlash threw the Death Guard back and relit the beacon for the Loyalist reinforcements. In the Garden of Nurgle he later led the defence against Khorne's Blood Legions at Bubbling Gully, slowly crippling their dog-headed Daemon Prince with plague and taking its guts for Nurgle's cauldron. Nurgle rewarded him by letting him reach the Plague God's throne. In M41 he and the Fallen Merir Astelan tried to raise a new 'Death Angels' Legion, which the Dark Angels destroyed at Caliban in 998.M41.

Battles & campaigns

• Flight of the Eisenstein: The Terminus Est battered Garro's frigate, but Garro escaped to warn Terra.
• The Destroyer Plague: He became host of the Destroyer Hive when the Death Guard were becalmed in the Warp.
• Ten thousand years of plague: Carandinis VII, Protheus and the Jonah's World pandemic.
• Plague Wars: He fought alongside Mortarion's forces in the Era Indomitus.

Personality

Patient, scheming and ambitious, devoted to Nurgle more than to Mortarion.

He believes Nurgle's plagues are a gift and a release from the fear of death, and preaches that message with zeal. He takes pride in having engineered the Death Guard's fall. His relationship with Mortarion has long been strained, since he answers first to Nurgle and only second to his gene-father.

Weapons & Vehicles

Silence (Plague Scythe)Relic Weapon

The colossal, rust-pitted two-handed battle scythe of Daemon Primarch Mortarion, forged on Barbarus and steeped in the soul-rotting pla…

Plague Knife & BaleswordMelee Weapon

The corroded, pus-dripping combat blades of the Death Guard Plague Marines, so saturated with Nurgle's supernatural contagions that a s…

Flamer & Heavy FlamerRanged Weapon

A volatile liquid-promethium projector that floods bunkers, trenches and xenos swarms in clinging, self-oxidising gouts of cleansing ch…

Deathshroud TerminatorsElites · Unit

The mute, scythe-wielding Terminator bodyguards and executioner-emissaries of Mortarion, sworn never to stray more than forty-nine pace…

PlaguebearersMonsters & Daemons · Unit

The one-eyed, rotting lesser daemons of Nurgle, endlessly counting their god's diseases.

NurglingsMonsters & Daemons · Unit

Tiny, mischievous daemons of Nurgle that swarm over the battlefield, biting, tripping and smothering their foes.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (6)

• 
  Roboute Guilliman enemy · Ultramarines

  In the Plague Wars Typhus led a splinter fleet that terrorised Ultramar's outer systems.

• 
  Be'lakor rival · Chaos Daemons

  Be'lakor invaded the Charadon System when Typhus attacked it during the Indomitus Crusade.

• 
  Grandfather Nurgle patron · Chaos Daemons

  Typhus betrayed his Legion to Nurgle and became his favoured mortal champion, host of the Destroyer Hive.

• 
  Huron Blackheart defeated by · Red Corsairs

  Typhus humbled Huron in a duel on Danasar, then spared him.

• 
  Ku'gath Plaguefather fellow servant of Nurgle · Chaos Daemons

  Typhus's splinter fleet and Ku'gath's daemon legions both served in the Plague Wars against Ultramar.

• 
  Mortarion betrayed by · Death Guard

  Typhus led the Death Guard into Nurgle's grasp during the Heresy.

Factions

• Death Guard primary faction

Related units (3)

Plague MarinesPoxwalkersDeathshroud Terminators

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Typhus is the Herald of Nurgle, the man who betrayed Mortarion's Legion into Nurgle's grasp. He spreads the Destroyer Plague across the galaxy. His rivalry with Mortarion, and his zeal for spreading disease, make him one of the most dangerous servants of the Plague God. Typhus is the Plague God's most dangerous herald, a whole epidemic in power armour.

Appearances & sources

• Codex: Death Guard / Chaos Space Marines
• The Flight of the Eisenstein (James Swallow)
• The Lords of Silence (Chris Wraight)