Mortis Thule
"Tis a haunted place, full of old ghosts. Tis a curse to any who board her."
The Mortis Thule, meaning Death From Beyond the Horizon, is a space hulk named such by those in the Jericho Reach. Navigators are known to call it The Doom that Awaits, and Deathwatch Librarians officially record it as Warp Artefact Aleph-Omicron-002.[1]
History
The Mortis Thule is abnormal for a space hulk in its longevity. Having been first identified in Jericho Reach all the way back in M30 during the Great Crusade by expeditionary fleets. It has only increased in mass since then. Both its size and longevity are suspected to be related to its proximity to the warp gate known as the Jericho Gate.[1]
The earliest possible recording of Mortis Thule could be ancient pictograms created by the xenos natives of Shinno dating back to M18, 12,000 years before the Great Crusade and subsequent genocide of the xenos natives.[1] The pictorial archives of one of these extinct species' sightings depict a dark, ominous shape appearing in the sky and unnatural beasts descending to slaughter swathes of helpless natives.[1][2b] This first evidence of the Mortis Thule was uncovered by the 427th Expeditionary Fleet. Numerous other legends of the Space Hulk are told that date back prior to the fall of the old Jericho Sector.[2b]
While the Mortis Thule may disappear for decades at a time, no sightings of it are logged anywhere outside of the Jericho Reach, so it is unknown whether the hulk has drifted to other locations across the Galaxy. Most can only speculate as to why this is. Most guess its tie to the Reach could have something to do with the strange cosmic phenomena within the Jericho Sector, such as the Hadex Anomaly, the Black Reef, or the Slinnar Drift: one or a combination of these phenomena might somehow influence the currents and eddies of the Warp in strange ways, always drawing the space hulk back.[2b]
Composition
The exact size and composition of the Mortis Thule changes with each sighting as some of its component vessels fragment and fall away while new ships are found wrecked in its prodigious mass. The Mortis Thule's unprecedented size is comparable to a continent or small moon. Any attempts to explore or conquer it must be considered equivalent to a military operation against a territory of similar scale.[2b]
The expansive hulls of the Mortis Thule have been known to play host to numerous denizens and visitors: Genestealers, Orks, Enslavers, Hullghasts, Kroot, Eldar Pirates, as well as xenos-infections such as the Voar.[1]
Deathwatch
The Deathwatch of all Jericho Reach Watch Stations have Standing Order Episilon-9-9-0, to be followed whenever a new sighting of the hulk emerging into realspace is encountered. Few protocols override this standing order. Epsilon-9-9-0 requires that the composition and any changes to the Mortis Thule be logged, and a Deathwatch Kill-team to enter the hulk in doing so, eliminating any threats as needed.[2c]
See also
Sources
- 1: Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault, pgs. 61-66
- 2: Deathwatch: Ark of Lost Souls:
