Epidemius, the Maggot King and Proctor of Pestilence, a powerful Herald of Nurgle responsible for cataloguing all of the Plague Lord's many diseases.
Epidemius, known also as the "Maggot King," the "Plagued Panjandrum" and the "Reckoner of Mortality," is a Plaguebearer Daemon and a Herald of Nurgle who is Grandfather Nurgle's chosen Tallyman, one of the seven Proctors of Pestilence and the cataloguer of all the Plague Lord's diseases.[1a][2b]
When an Imperial settlement's plague-pits overfill, the corpse-mound might part to reveal a palanquin drawn by a score of silent Nurglings carrying a fat Plaguebearer who scribbles ceaselessly on reams of parchment. Sand trickles down the hourglass by his side, and a brass bell hangs from a pole above his head. When this horror has finished recording every detail of suffering and disease into his ledger, the Nurglings sound the bell and clash gongs to usher the souls of the plague-dead screaming into Nurgle's embrace.[3a]
History
Origins
The heraldry of the Tallymen of Pestilence, the Nurglish army commanded by Epidemius in Total War: Warhammer III.[8]
Epidemius' task is an unending one, and it generates a great deal of paperwork, so he rides a palanquin to share the burden -- and to more easily force a path through Nurgle's Daemonic hordes. Two dozen Nurglings attend the Tallyman's every need, providing the parchment, operating the death's head abacus, excreting the ink for the quill pens and even defending Epidemius from harm should a foolish enemy venture too close.[1a][2b]
Epidemius brooks no idleness or distraction from his helpers who, unlike other Nurglings, remain deathly silent lest they disturb their master from his task and thus rouse his ire. Like Nurgle, Epidemius abhors anything that distracts from the serious matters of life and death. The only sounds that can be heard are the gooey shufflings as Nurglings heave the palanquin forwards, and the irritable scratching of the Tallyman's quill as he seeks to keep his records up to date. It is believed that should his diligences be interrupted, Nurgle's afflictions upon the mortal world would be halted.[1a][2b][3a]
Epidemius brandishing his plaguesword.[1a]
From his perch, Epidemius surveys the thrift and splendour of Nurgle's creations, making note of casualties and infection rates as well as secondary symptoms such as unusual colourations and odours. This information, properly collated and distilled, is of incredible value to Grandfather Nurgle, but must be recorded with absolute precision and in a timely fashion to be of any use.[1a][2b]
Epidemius' path through the mortal and eternal realms is an unpredictable one, for he goes wherever the spoor of pestilence leads him. He is busiest of all when Nurgle's power is waxing strong in the Great Game, for the might of the Plague Lord is inextricably linked to the constantly shifting ebb and flow of disease in the mortal realms. Campaigning armies, with all the poor hygiene and unmentionable diseases that entail, offer a glut of work for the Tallyman, but also present rare opportunities for more unusual studies.[1a][2b]
Of greatest interest to Epidemius are infections and fevered behaviours afflicting determined or ambitious souls. Nurgle's cankerous supernatural plagues do not merely infest the physical form, they also run virulently rampant throughout a being's soul, destroying their sense of self and moral direction as thoroughly as they corrupt their fevered body.[1a][2b]
Observing this decline is a rare privilege. A skilled observer -- and there are none more skilled than the vile Epidemius -- can read this flaked and crumbled trail of soul-stuff as it departs the mortal coil, gleaning all manner of knowledge and adding a portion of the soul's strength to his own.[1a][2b]
As an offer of thanks, Epidemius' entourage strike bells and gongs when such a soul finally succumbs, ushering the tainted spirit into Nurgle's paternal and welcoming embrace in the Realm of Chaos. What happens to it there, none can say -- least of all Epidemius, whose interest in a subject dies along with its physical shell. Happily, there are always fresh victims to investigate.[1a][2b]
A Bargain Denied
Epidemius on his palanquin leads the Daemonic forces of Nurgle against the Plague Lord's foes in Total War: Warhammer III.[8]
In 635 IC, Epidemius appeared in Naggaroth during high summer, seeking to claim the soul of the Dark Elves' accursed monarch Malekith as payment for past alliances with the Plague Lord. Safe behind sorcerous wards, the Witch King loosened his armies against Epidemius. For a year and a day, Naggaroth was ravaged by war, which only ended when Malekith offered the souls of ten thousand Elves in his stead -- an offer Epidemius greedily accepted.[2a]
Rescue of Lord Bileflood
Concept art for Epidemius created for Total War: Warhammer III.[8]
At one point, Epidemius was notified by one of his Nurgling servants that the Great Unclean One Lord Bileflood had been taken captive by Skaven. Seeking to settle an old debt owed to the Greater Daemon, Epidemius marshalled his forces to rescue him.[4a] In a lair beneath the Imperial Electoral Province of Middenland, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens bled the Greater Daemon for his magical essence, having immobilised him in chains forged from warpstone and meteoric iron.[4b]
Manifesting his Daemonic forces from a fallen Waystone in Nordland, Epidemius' armies clashed against an Asur watchforce that protected the site under the command of Prince Sirion.[4c][4f]
Epidemius then led his forces into the tunnels of the Under-Empire and managed to prevent the ritual of Pestilent Destillation.[4d] The victorious Daemonic army erupted to the surface world and assaulted Elsterweld, a centre of the Cult of Shallya in Middenland.[4e]
Assault on Saphery
Epidemius leads his Daemonic forces into battle while still cataloguing all of the interesting manifestations of the Plague Lord's diseases infecting the mortals he faces.
When a rift fromed in the Annulii Mountains in Yvresse, Daemons entered Ulthuan and carved a bloody path through the High Elven kingdoms on the way to their prize -- the White Tower of Hoeth in Saphery.[5a]
Epidemius, along with several other Daemons, joined the warhost of the Khornate Bloodthirster Gorefiend who met the army of High Loremaster Teclis in battle. Epidemius faced Teclis and managed to overwhelm the High Elf Archmages, who was believed dead. The Daemonic armies overwhelmed the Asur defenders, yet before they could enter the tower, the Winds of Magic that held them in the mortal world dispersed, sending them back to the Realm of Chaos.[5b][5c]
End Times
Early in the End Times, Epidemius brought his "Festival of Disease" to Middenheim. Even after he left, the bodies of his pox-scarred victims had to be sent to the flames.[6a]
In the summer of 2525 IC, the Bray-Shaman known only as the Harbinger enacted a vile ritual that transformed herdstones of the Beastmen into rifts to the Realm of Chaos. Epidemius joined his Daemonic army, the Tallyman's Host, to those of Orghotts Daemonspew, who led his forces into Talabecland. Daemonspew and his Warriors of Chaos had suffered several gruelling defeats at the walls of Talabheim, whose caldera walls were impregnable.[7a] Epidemius instead magically summoned a deluge of pus from the clouds above that forced the inhabitants out of the city and into the waiting army outside.[7b]
Epidemius during the End Times.
During the attack of the Glottkin on the Imperial capital at Altdorf, Epidemius led his host from the east, coming from the River Talabec. He had long suspected that a great task awaited him at Altdorf, though he had not anticipated quite such a vista of disease. Upon emerging from the Drakwald, his rotten heart almost burst, for the skies bore his master Nurgle's image. The Tallyman would not allow himself to fail before the god that had given him form.[7c]
The Maggot King enhanced the deadliness of his accompanying Plaguebearers as he scribbled with a quill in each hand, frantic to catalogue the plagues that blossomed into being in Altdorf under the baleful influence of the Plague Lord. So preoccupied was he that he did not notice the ninefold boom of a Helblaster Volley Cannon that tore him to pieces. Even as he was ripped apart, Epidemius continued to count the infections that spilled out of his body with a detached interest. Slowly, his quill scrabbled to a halt and the Herald of Nurgle faded from the mortal world, banished back to the Nurgle's Garden in the Realm of Chaos.[7d]
Wargear
- Purveyor of Mortality – Sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword, but in the case of the Tallyman of Nurgle, both are equally dangerous, as the quill Epidemius uses to record his lord's infinite variety of disease is as coated in those same pathogens as any weapon wielded by the Daemons of the Plague Lord.[9]
- Sands of Sickness – As the sands slip through Epidemius' hourglass, decay embraces all, reminding those who dare stand against the Plague Lord of the eternal cycle of life and death, and the omnipresent touch of Nurgle's rot.[9]
Miniatures
Trivia
Epidemius also appears as a Herald of Nurgle in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos (7th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 57
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Liber Infectus - The Book of Plague (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 24
- 4: White Dwarf 341 (UK)
- 5: White Dwarf 392 (UK)
- 6: The End Times: Nagash (8th Edition)
- 6a: pg. 11
- 7: The End Times: Glottkin (8th Edition)
- 8: Total War Blog - Total War: Warhammer III - Patch 5.0 - Introducing the Free Content
- 9: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)