Cursed. Predators and Parasites.

Ambull

Ambulls are extremely hardy and long-lived social creatures.

Ambulls are large, almost humanoid beings with chitin-covered bodies, resembling insects, and giant, disproportionate limbs ending in strong claws. Their habit of moving hunched over, akin to a monkey, significantly reduces their actual height, but at full extension, with their arms raised above their heads, they can easily reach four meters. Ambulls are incredibly resilient and long-lived social creatures, typically living in families with several adults attempting to rear 4-7 young. Additionally, they are natural diggers: their eyes are sensitive to the slightest light and infrared spectrum, and their claws are excellently suited for moving through earth and stone at incredible speeds. Their tunnels and caves extend for many kilometers underground, forming an extensive network that may seem like a refuge from surface dangers to the unwary.

Most imperial xenologists are convinced that this species originated in the deserts of the remote death world of Luther McIntyre IX in the Solar Segment. There, ambulls lived underground, surfacing only at night to hunt or tracking down prey that wandered into their tunnels. Bursting forth from the ground, they tear at their prey with their enormous limbs and then devour it using razor-sharp mandibles. Captured prey is often dragged into their burrows to feed the family, especially young kin who are just learning to forage. Ambulls prefer live prey but can eat almost anything they encounter while hunting.

Despite the Delta-level ban on transportation, many poorly informed yet ambitious groups (from wealthy nobles to banned cults) have attempted to transfer and domesticate ambulls for use as combat animals or guards. Even working with immature specimens usually ends in catastrophe, resulting in ambulls escaping captivity and beginning to breed on a new planet. As almost any surrounding environment is far less hostile than that on their home planet, along with the usual abundance of prey, leads to them breeding at frightening rates and becoming a substantial threat.

Imperial xenologists have noted that wherever they have been found, ambulls show no signs of mutations or morphological changes. Even in the most radioactive and polluted environments, these creatures remain unchanged, differing only in coloration. This incredible resilience has been the subject of numerous studies, though none have produced convincing results. The more radical xenobiologists speculate that ambulls may have been specially created to resist Chaos. More prudent adherents believe that this is merely the result of intense struggle for survival on their infernal planet.

From the notes of Inquisitor Felrot Gelt:

I have used what more limited minds would find unacceptable many times. And if the result was the strengthening of the Imperium, then I am satisfied. However, some tools are too dangerous for use. The ambull is one such example, a result of an attempt to tame the untamable. Ambulls are not native to the Calixis sector; they were brought from the other end of the Imperium, bought and sold for large sums by those who wished to harness the incredible power of the beast for their own needs.

It is clear why many violated the law by acquiring ambulls. These creatures are incredibly strong and seem capable of surviving in almost any environment. Ambulls possess a certain intelligence, and their social behavior indicates that they can be trained for use as guards or combat animals. Having such beasts under command is a great achievement, and many fools have given their lives trying to achieve it.

But if a tool cannot be used to serve the Emperor, it must be destroyed. That is why I advocate the extermination of these creatures wherever they are found. There are still many such short-sighted heretics who see ambulls as a path to wealth and respect, only to realize too late what they have condemned themselves to. The ruins of the Mercury Palace on Arai 1, destroyed by a seismic attack directed by my own hand, serve as a mute warning for such fools. May they serve as an example to those who have turned away from the Light of the Emperor.

Deep One

Deep beneath the hives of Fenks, pale monsters stir. Reaching 2-3 meters in height, the Deep One is a predator radiating hatred. The strong stench surrounding the creature is often the first sign of its presence and a warning to all hive dwellers. Four stocky limbs support this cumbersome, colorless beast, ending in clawed, webbed appendages that allow it to swim quickly. Moreover, they seem entirely insensitive to most toxic waste from industrial hives. On its toothy skull, four eyes are symmetrically placed, and its mouth, round like a lamprey's, is filled with razor-sharp teeth that easily tear flesh. The creature is remarkably dull-witted — perhaps the only reason the Deep One hasn't gained the title of the deadliest predator of Fenks.

In battle, the Deep One relies on its size and strength, repeatedly charging into the fight aggressively. Those unfortunate enough to encounter this beast must fear its acidic saliva equally, as well as its tearing claws and bites, which can easily rend flesh and armor.

Pitiful skiffs scour the polluted storages beneath the hives of Fenks, seeking out the beasts and capturing them using harpoons, nets, hooks, and electric poles. Some hunters do not return from each hunt, dragged from their boats into the caustic, toxic mud. Often, hunters use a piece of meat soaked in a hefty dose of sedative as bait — a tactic that significantly increases the chance of a successful hunt. Adeptus Arbites attempts to combat such heretical hunts; however, the price of each creature makes this work highly profitable, and every time the arbiters thwart one group, two others take its place.

Once a Deep One is captured, it is placed in an iron cage and sent to the arena to entertain the crowd. The Dim Pits of Hive Volg are infamous for the extensive use of xenos beasts in their gladiatorial matches, but the wild fury and malice of the Deep One is a rare sight even for such bloody competitions. These horrifying creatures toss opponents about, flooding the sand with blood, and then crush the remaining ones under their shapeless bulk.

There are several theories linking the Deep One to the Plague of Nova Castilla, a geno-beast orchestrated by the Cult of Logicians. This techno-heresy on a planetary scale has spread among the hive populace like wildfire. Rumors suggest that during these events, several families went missing, only for pale, malice-ridden creatures to appear in their place.

From the notes of Inquisitor Felrot Gelt:

Fenks is known throughout Calixis for its brutal and bloody arena battles, serving as the perfect reflection of the wretched life in the poisoned surroundings of the hives. Years ago, my retinue and I had to descend into Hive Volg in search of a cult connected to the Destructive Force of bloody sacrifice. During our search in the Pale Pits, we encountered the foulest breed of xenos, however, perfectly suited for this brutal place. It knew only the blood-soaked sand of the arena and craved to maim and toss, and only by the will of the Emperor did none of my acolytes fall that day.

Terrified cultists released the creature upon sighting us — a desperate attempt to buy time and escape retribution. Perhaps it would have worked had we been fewer. The bubbling roar left us paralyzed, as if the nearly palpable malice of the creature pressed down on our hearts and minds. The transport of my watt-psyker trembled and collapsed — it groaned in pain as the red, hatred-filled eyes of the beast spun independently in their sockets, trying to distinguish each member of my retinue. The creature, dripping with saliva and slime, exuding an awful stench, was an insult to the Emperor's sight.

We did not kill it, even though it wounded Lamdin and Amenda. It was worthy of death, but the heretics, our primary target, sought to flee. Military adept Prankl had plasma weaponry, with which we drove the creature, its steaming hide hanging in tatters from its scorched sides, back into the pit-cage. As for the heretics, I shall say no more than that they were exterminated, and their plague uprooted from the hive.

This was many years before I had to visit Fenks again, but the memory of the xenos creature still lived in my mind. Under the crumbling bastions of factories, my servants and I managed to learn much about them. Among the lower hive dwellers, the creature is known as the “Deep One,” and bets on kills made by this beast have already become a sport in the Dim Pits. Arena owners are willing to offer a fortune to anyone who can best the creature in hand-to-hand combat — an event no one currently living can recall.

After the Feast of Ascension that year, I set out after Lexicographer Morria from the Library of Knowledge. I found the ambitions of the library elders quite disconcerting and thus attempted to have little to do with them — they awaited bad news with palpable delight, obsequiously relating to anyone who could bring it. Nevertheless, with the help of the Messiah, I managed to discover hints about the origin of the Deep One breed. Their visions referred to workers exiled to the depths of Hive Volg and forgotten there for ages, among poison and darkness. Could these beasts have once been human? Or are they merely local fauna mutated by the hive's expulsions? Some records assert that these xenos inhabited this place even before the first foundation of the hive was built. I believe that the second explanation is far more likely, yet such a horrific distortion of the sacred forms of the God-Emperor would warrant a cleansing by fire of the entire lower level, should the hypothesis be confirmed. Besides, there are many stories about missing people, but I do not attribute much significance to them. Perhaps these rumors are true, and people are thrown into the beast's pits as food, or they end up consumed by xenos, that crawled out of the poisoned sewers... After all I've seen here, I would sooner believe the worst. But such stories are told in the depths of every imperial hive, and Volg is no exception, and he is no less deserving of cleansing by fire and sword...*

*It is possible that the original text contains an error, as the conclusion on the