Heralds of Nurgle #5

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++++PRIORITY LEVEL VERMILLION GAMMA++++
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++++messenger = Ronayne, F++++

++++designation = Ordo Malleus; Interrogator 1st Class++++

++++access granted++++

Master,

The plot, as they used to say on Olde Terra, thickens.

Further to my previous missives pertaining to the Thrixis Matter, I have uncovered further information that both confirms his presence in the sector in the past, as well as his presence on Terra at some time during the wars of Unification. This has led me to hypothesise that he may be one of those rare beings known as Eternals (Homo Eternalis).

Through a rather convoluted sequence of cross-referencing (the details of which I won't bore you with beyond the following broad themes: Thrixis, Necrosius, Abstruse, Cult activity, Nurgle), I was led to a series of transcribed Arbites interviews with folk that were involved in illegal pit fighting around M31-32.  I have attached the relevant passages for you to peruse at your leisure, but will summarise below for your convenience.

Obviously gambling on the outcome of one-on-one combat pre-dates the Age of Enlightenment by some several millenia. Often, when professional, able-bodied fighting men and women become too old for war, or find themselves without wars to fight, they find it difficult to readjust to life in normal society.  This typically sees them circulate into the fringes of criminal society where they will often find employ as an enforcer for an organised crime syndicate, fall in with an Underhive gang, or drink and whore themselves into Debtor's Gaol.  All three of those routes typically end with a permanent sleep in a body-bag or transportation to a hard labour camp on a penal colony world.

Occasionally the odd soul, here or there, in some Debtor's Gaol or other will be offered the choice to have their debt "bought off" by a mysterious benefactor in return for fighting in the pits and "eventually" buying back their own freedom.  The life and career or a pit slave is obviously beset with hazards, rivalries, jealous slave-masters, mechanical enhancements and chemical lobotomies (and so on), so the chances of buying back one's freedom are realistically non-existent.

Now, in relation to the matter at hand, it would appear that (and this was backed up by shipping records at the time) Thrixis had traveled from Olde Terra aboard a vessel that formed part of a Rogue Trader fleet belonging to one Lord Armistice von Credenza, and had been accompanied by several shady individuals.  After debarking on the world of Lozenge IV at Cypricotus Hive, it would appear that Thrixis ran in to some local trouble of which I have been unable to unearth the details (understandably, data-stack records may have been scrubbed and written over (perhaps more than once) as this was nigh on 9 millenia ago). I would assume some kind of violence associated with gambling may have occurred, as his name is (to this day - I had someone verify it) engraved in the sheet-metal records traditionally favoured by Cypricotus Debtor's Gaol at the time.

It would seem that Thrixis had been offered the chance by a slave-master (who having bribed the requisite gaolers the traditional bribe in order to gain access to the prisoners) to fight as a pit slave or face transportation at the hands of the authorities.  Infamously, at the time, Thrixis had offered a third option. He would get somebody far more physically imposing and belligerent to do the fighting for him.  This piqued the interest of the slave-master, who was subsequently introduced to one of Thrixis' travelling companions - a man of some reported heft and stature, whom conjecture would suggest may have been one of the Emperor’s proto-Astartes, or so-called Thunder Warriors (for lack of a confirmed name, we shall refer to him as ‘Piotr’, for the name he went by in the pits was ‘Piotr the Great’ (verily). All parties were satisfied. The slave-master had himself a real prospect for the pits; Thrixis did not have to endure the pits and was happy that Piotr would win himself free in short order; Piotr was presented with an environment in which he could indulge his talents for extreme violence and general belligerence.

Indeed, Piotr found himself so content in his newfound position that he opted to stay on, once his freedom had been earned. Perhaps the ready supply of combat drugs, cheap grain alcohol and whores helped seal the deal. At this point, Thrixis drops into the background.

Of course, Piotr’s enduring success and lengthy record of victory on victory against all comers was accompanied with jealousy and resentment from rival slave-masters. This is illustrated by Piotr taking a wound in the pits from some kind of dagger befouled by some kind of Lazarine disease (possibly Leprotic Botulism?).  Piotr went on to win this bout, succumbing to the illness later. However, given his enhanced biological make-up, he recovered, with the only lasting effect being a deadening of the pain receptors and what I would surmise was further non-fatal damage to the nervous system.  This obviously had the effect of making Piotr all but impervious to pain, and contributed to his continuing success in the pits.  However, this also meant wounds he endured would often go unnoticed, and suppurate. Again that proto-Astartes physiology kept him going, but he had earned himself a new moniker: ‘Piotr the Foul’.

Further attempts on his life by jealous slave-masters failed and failed again. Until somebody unleashed a large basket of Cobras (a venomous serpent of Hind on Olde Terra) in his quarters.  The envenomed bites of these serpents were ultimately what did for him (partially evidenced by over two dozen crushed serpents in his rooms), although, according to local records, no cadaver was allegedly recovered.

I opine that perhaps Piotr the Foul somehow found his way back into the service of Thrixis, although at this time there is no evidence to support this theory.

I remain

Your Servant

Fergus Ronayne