Zombie plague confusion?

[Lord Kallozar]

Hi all,

 

According to fluff I thought the zombie plague was a new plague that only typhus knew. Then along came necrosius from forgeworld who also learnt the technique of resurrecting the dead. But it has now been documented that the zombie plague is used widely now.

 

But recent fluff still states that it's only necrosius and typhus that Cavan do it.... So anyone care to shed light on this?

[Lagrath]

I don't know what recent fluff you're talking about.

 

Anyway, I think a lot of the older materials makes it clear that this is just very high-level Nurgle sorcery, and that not everyone can do it. Typhus seems to be the main user, maybe even the pioneer. In my lore for my own Chaos warband, I've written it so that the sorcerer leading my army learned the basics of the Zombie Plague while serving under Typhus, then broke off and at some point also got in touch with Necrosius, most likely at some point during the Vraks conflict. Between what he picked up from both of them, he was able to reverse-engineer his own version of the disease/spell (the Hex Plague).

[Castellan Cato]

GW loves to retcon.  Zombies are big in pop culture right now (at least in the US).  Most companies are being smart enough to hop on that bandwagon. 

 

Any old army from the R&H lists can take plague zombies if they side with Nurgle.  They're getting to be very common I would think. 

[Lay]

Iirc, the zombie plague was never really tied to Typhus or even the Death Guard.
 
There was a "zombie plague" that was part of the game setting of Necromunda, even though it was portrayed as just one of many local hazards. There was also a sentient zombie psyker character, Karloth Valois. What's interesting is that plague zombie miniatures weren't bloated or otherwise "nurgly". I'm not even sure if those were originally meant to be Nurgle affiliated zombies, but modern fluff states that they are connected.
 
Also, back when the Eye of Terror campaign happened it said that the zombie plague was a new disease, which would place the first outbreak at the very end of the 41st millennium. This version of the plague played a big role in the early story of the campaign. Basically, the infected didn't reanimate immediately and the imperials thought it was some sort of divine punishment, the "Plague of Unbelief".
 
Since then, Nurgle plague zombies have appeared earlier and earlier in the timeline. One notable bit of fluff I remember is from the Dark Heresy book "Disciples of the Dark Gods", which states that there are several strains of zombie creating diseases, like the "Fydae Strain". Also, the Black Legion supplement states that Mortarion created a new zombie disease for Abaddons 13th Black Crusade (which would validate the old campaign fluff about it being a new disease).

[Lagrath]

Iirc, the zombie plague was never really tied to Typhus or even the Death Guard.

 

There was a "zombie plague" that was part of the game setting of Necromunda, even though it was portrayed as just one of many local hazards. There was also a sentient zombie psyker character, Karloth Valois. What's interesting is that plague zombie miniatures weren't bloated or otherwise "nurgly". I'm not even sure if those were originally meant to be Nurgle affiliated zombies, but modern fluff states that they are connected.

 

Also, back when the Eye of Terror campaign happened it said that the zombie plague was a new disease, which would place the first outbreak at the very end of the 41st millennium. This version of the plague played a big role in the early story of the campaign. Basically, the infected didn't reanimate immediately and the imperials thought it was some sort of divine punishment, the "Plague of Unbelief".

 

Since then, Nurgle plague zombies have appeared earlier and earlier in the timeline. One notable bit of fluff I remember is from the Dark Heresy book "Disciples of the Dark Gods", which states that there are several strains of zombie creating diseases, like the "Fydae Strain". Also, the Black Legion supplement states that Mortarion created a new zombie disease for Abaddons 13th Black Crusade (which would validate the old campaign fluff about it being a new disease).

 

In the M41 959 Pandorax campaign, it mentions that Corpulax, a Zombie Plague Marine, is one of Abbadon's most trusted generals, and that he was infected while fighting Typhus 300 years earlier. So the Zombie Plague that Typhus propagated must have been around at least ~340 years before the 13th Black Crusade!

[Kol Saresk]

One thing to point out is that the Plague of Unbelief, doesn't necessarily have to be the same plague as the ones that came before it.

 

Remember, Nurgle(ironically) likes to continually evolve his plagues and keep improving them.