Space Hulk

From Warhammer 40k

For the board game, see Space Hulk (game)

A Space Hulk is the term given to the wreckage of a spaceship or a mangled twist of spaceships and debris found drifting without apparent direction. These monstrosities often drop in and out of warp space, threatening to carry Chaos warriors or genestealers in stasis which can launch attacks or infestations upon the unweary planets of the Imperium. For this reason, battle barges and Space Marine elite companies will often surround and inspect these monstrous crafts before harm is done, unless rogue traders and pirates haven't done the honors already. The reason for this is these space hulks have been adrift for hundreds to thousands of years in the warp, forming an unrecognizable, huge mass, in which bounty from the Dark Age of Technology could be stowed.

Many space hulks are known to be breeding grounds for genestealers, often being the product of a ship where genestealers have taken over and killed the crew. It is even suspected the Hive Mind implants genestealers to lay in stasis on these multi-barges as an unguided vanguard to the Hive Fleet. Congruent with the expansive consumption of the Tyranids, these space hulks are doubly dangerous for the cargo they may contain and the Hive Fleets they could fetch upon collision with an inhabited planet.

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