Wilmut Sachs

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

High Genetor Wilmut Sachs, the Devil of Vischmauz

"He was my brother, the most brilliant man I had ever met, save Johannes or the Emperor himself. I loved him, but he could not love. All that could be said of Vrach, he did what he did out of love. Sachs did what he did for no reason other than that he could, that was why he was so wonderful, and that was why he became the disgusting monster that could kill a sweet man like Edentis. It was my responsibility to look after my brothers, I failed them, and now I will hunt down the man who caused all this and end his life."

-Gaius Vira to Sebastion Rex, The Meeting at Duranesh

Even in the extensive gallery of heretics and traitors to Mankind, the figure of Wilmut Sachs stands out as especially ominous. The mere list of his vicious crimes against humanity can drive a lesser person insane with terror and disgust. One of the Galaxy's brightest minds, he served as the High Genetor with the Life Bringers, where his role involved creating cures to the numerous diseases that plagued the Galaxy. As his battle brothers clashed with the enemies of Mankind upon smouldering battlefields, he relentlessly fought its intangible foes in his laboratories. Although initially successful in his endeavours, his inability to find the ultimate panacea against all disease as demanded by his Primarch, Johannes Vrach, slowly chipped away at his sanity. Driven to utter desperation by his mounting failures, he begged the masters of the Immaterium for assistance - but, as expected, their help came at a hefty price. In exchange for the ultimate cure, Sachs forged a pact with Nurgle and corrupted his Legion in the name of his new master. After crushing defeat suffered by the Life Bringers in the Battle of Rai, he led the remnants of his Legion into the Eye of Terror, where he eventually rose up to become one of the pre-eminent warlords.

The Heresy

The Culling of the Genetory

Although the Life Bringers were quite successful as a Legion, Johannes Vrach cared little for conquest. He was certain that the Imperium kept downplaying the danger the numerous diseases of the Galaxy posed to humanity's restored domain. Since his reunification with his Legion, he had seen malaises that made the great blight of Rai look like common cold, and he was sure that he had yet to encounter the worst of them. The Galaxy was rife with diseases, and the Life Bringers could only cure a handful of them on the planets they discovered. This was clearly not enough for Vrach, and so he tasked the Genetory with finding the ultimate cure.

Alas, this was not in the cards. Soon after the work on the panacea began, Malcador the Sigillite personally summoned Vrach for a meeting. He admonished the Primarch for conducting extensive genetic research on his flagship without the Emperor's permission, reminding him of the dangers of unrestrained genomancy. By Malcador's decree, the Genetory of the Life Bringers was disbanded, its equipment destroyed and its members demoted to common Apothecaries. Unfortunately, Vrach was already far too obsessed with finding a panacea. After a long period of pondering, he decided to secretly disobey Malcador's orders. While the Genetory was officially culled and its members stripped of their ranks, they secretly received a permission from their Primarch to continue their work. They had to move into half-abandoned old technical decks and settle for what little equipment Vrach could find for them without rousing any suspicion, but they now had his full cooperation. Vrach was determined to go to any lengths to make his noble dream a reality.

As the Great Crusade went on, Sachs plunged deeper and deeper into bioheresy in his desperate quest to find the panacea his Primarch would be satisfied with. Without the rare equipment and unlimited resources he possessed as the master of the Genetory, he found the success rate of his experiments dwindling dramatically. Disillusioned with traditional methods of medicine, he made the hard decision to shed the shackles of medial ethics entirely. Soon, he and his closest adherents experimented eagerly on the kidnapped battle brothers of their own Legion, picking out those who openly stated that the Life Bringers' transformation from a military force to a glorified interstellar hospital was a disgrace to their origins. Valetudinarium became a dangerous place to speak up against the Primarch. And yet, success eluded the Genetors time and again. Constant failure made the once open-minded and curious Sachs into a bitter, callous man who would do anything necessary to bring his research to a successful conclusion. He didn't know yet what exactly was necessary, but he was most determined to find out.

The discovery of Nurgle

Soon after the Culling of Genetory, the Life Bringers were struck by another major blow from the Emperor, this time in the form of the Council of Nikaea. The Legion's Librarians were infuriated by its outcome, none more so than Chief Librarian Vertumnus Alraun. A major apologist of psychic powers, he was massively disappointed with the decision of the council and even briefly contemplated a mutiny, but eventually judged against it. Still, his faith in the Imperium was compromised and all he needed to betray its principles was just a little push - and it came soon enough. As Alraun was going back to his quarters after surrendering his Librarian equipment to the armoury, he was suddenly stopped by High Genetor. With sparks of nascent madness dancing in his eyes, he told the former Librarian that perhaps his powers could serve Humanity at least one more time. Intrigued by Sachs's enigmatic proposal, Alraun followed him to his new secret laboratory.

Wilmut Sachs, it turned out, had carefully studied the logs of the Council of Nikaea. What really drew his attention was the evidence presented by Darius Cyaxares against the Black Augurs. It included detailed descriptions of the dark rituals the sorcerers of the Fourteenth Legion purportedly used to establish contact with powerful sentient entities inhabiting the Immaterium. One name that kept coming up was that of some Master of Disease, a godlike entity with seemingly absolute control over all sorts of plague and pestilence. Sachs was determined to contact this entity and strike a deal with it that could help him find a universal cure that his Primarch so desired. For a price, of course, but High Genetor was long past the point of caring about the price.

And so, using the notes from the protocols of the Council of Nikaea, Alraun and Sachs managed to step by step recreate the forbidden rituals of the Black Augurs and summon forth an evil spirit of the Warp, paying for this privilege in blood of several battle brothers too critical of their Primarch's new course. A bloated, repugnant creature truly worthy of the title of Plaguefather looked back at them from their amateurishly drawn pentagram. The creature introduced itself as Ku'Gath, a beloved grandchild of the Master of Disease himself. Although it was apparently delighted to be summoned by the Life Bringers, as it had a fondness for making new friends, it stated that they were unworthy to speak to his divine grandfather. That honour belonged to their Primarch, and to him alone. With these words, the entity departed the occult chamber, leaving only a repugnant smell in the air and a pool of diseased slime on the floor as sole reminders of its visitation. Although both Space Marines were most impressed by the profane spectacle they had witnessed, their opinions on it varied drastically. Wilmut Sachs was excited by a long overdue breakthrough; finally, after years of wallowing in failures, a glimmer of hope for success shone in his eyes. Vertumnus Alraun, on the contrary, was shocked and appalled by the creature he personally had summoned.

Elated by the prospect of progress, Johannes Vrach gave his support to Sachs, and the blasphemous summonings continued along with forbidden experiments in the secret Genetory. Progress that would have normally taken decades of trial and error was made every day, and soon Vrach and Sachs presented the first outcomes of their research to the Legion - experimental creatures known as Sym-Biomes, permanently diseased yet theoretically immortal half-living monsters. Very few knew how the Primarch managed to achieve such impressive results so quickly, and Sachs was amongst them. Desperate in his hopeless quest to find the ultimate cure, Johannes Vrach agreed to summon the Master of Disease, who revealed himself to the prodigal Primarch as the Plague God Nurgle. As a patron of life in all of its forms and manifestations, Nurgle refused to give Vrach the panacea that would cure all illnesses - indeed, why would he give anyone a horrible weapon capable of killing billions of billions of viruses and bacteria who have the same right to live as humans do? Instead, he offered the Primarch a deal. He would shield a select few from disease, but only if they offered their bodies as hives to billions of his smallest grandchildren, by which he meant pathogenic microorganisms. With a heavy heart, Vrach agreed, thus cursing himself and his entire Legion for all eternity. Immediately thereafter, a dark ritual was conducted, during which several of Nurgle's high-ranking daemons possessed Librarians of the Life Bringers. With help from those repugnant advisers, the prototype Sym-Biomes were ready in no time at all.

Edentis Pneuren, the Chief Apothecary of Life Bringers, was absolutely appalled by the actions of his former friend. He openly took the lead of the opposition to Sachs and his Genetors, trying to bring the Primarch he used to be so close to to his senses. Pneuren's faction was soon joined by his long-time friend Gaius Martinus Vira, better known as the Reaper. The clashes between the followers and adversaries of Sachs became more and more frequent, some of them even resulting in fisticuffs, yet no side could clearly gain the upper hand. Centuries later, Vira said with regret that if only Nikephoros Galen and his Green Men could shed their damned neutrality and join his faction, Sachs and his vile clique would be crushed and the Legion would still have a chance at redemption. Unfortunately, Nikephoros didn't think much of Chief Apothecary and his primitive methods. He needed the triumph over Sachs to be his, not Pneuren's, and so he refused to join their cause.

The Great Sacrifice at Vischmauz

It all culminated in the infamous Great Sacrifice at Vischmauz. On this planet, a massive Loyalist force was assembled in order to try and stop the advancement of the Life Bringers towards Terra, or at least slow it down. Sachs, however, saw them as less of an adversary and more of a generous sacrifice to his divine patron. Deep in the recesses of his laboratory, now flooded with blubbering filth and crawling with organic overgrowth, he prepared the greatest pest yet to see the light of day - the infamous Unmaker Plague. But as he was preparing to unleash it upon the doomed loyalists, he was finally directly confronted by his once-friend Edentis Pneuren. The Chief Apothecary tried reasoning with the mad doctor, recognizing that it was daemonic influence that drove him to such ignobility. He reminded Sachs of who he used to be, and who he could still become if only he denounced Nurgle and repented for his sins. Seemingly moved by Pneuren's speech, High Genetor showed repentance and invited him to share a brotherly embrace. But as Chief Apothecary embraced his old friend, firmly convinced that he was on the road to redemption, Sachs injected him with a strain of the Unmaker Plague and watched, giggling and making notes in his notebook, as Pneuren collapsed into a pile of formless flesh. When the Chief Apothecary was done for, Sachs set his unholy creation lose upon the Emperor's forces on Vischmauz, all the while singing praises to the Plague God.

With Pneuren dead and High Genetor's Plague Marines openly hunting down his followers, Vira and his Plague Doctors saw no better option than to escape from the spaceship that once was their home, but has now turned into a horrible death camp. The last bulwark of opposition to Sachs's reign of terror had now been crushed.

The Battle of Rai

The Battle of Rai was the final major confrontation of the Scouring the Life Bringers took part in. The Legion was chased by the combined forces of the Entombed and the Void Angels back to their homeworld of Rai, which Vrach intended to turn into a death trap for his pursuers. By this point, half of the Life Bringers consisted of Plague Marines and another half of plantmen, and Sachs was in charge of the former group. At the order of his Primarch, he was dispatched to deal with the Entombed forces on Rai. Although they were dramatically outnumbered, the children of Golgothos managed to fight their way into the midst of the Plague Marine ranks, after which their leader, Cardinal Merik, released a Shard of the Nightbringer that he likely obtained on some Tomb World. To deal with this new threat, Sachs had to sacrifice his own reserves to Nurgle in exchange for summoning a Great Unclean One. But even direct assistance from his god didn't help him much, as the plantmen of Nikephoros Galen cravenly ran away, leaving Sachs to deal with two Legions at once. Unable to win this fight, High Genetor made the decision to evacuate.

After their ignoble escape from Rai, it was Sachs who advised his Primarch to seek refuge in the Eye of Terror. Left with no other sensible options, Vrach agreed to his suggestion, and the Life Bringers followed the rest of the Traitor Legions into the rift where the Warp spilled into reality. The Legion quickly found a suitable Daemon World for itself, which the Primarch named Eden. Alas, his reign over his new domain proved to be short-lived, as Nurlge decided to finally reward his servant for his loyalty and granted him Daemonhood. As most Daemon Primarchs, Johannes Vrach showed very little interest in actually running his Legion, leaving Sachs in charge. Many of the Heresy veterans challenged his superiority, aspiring to seize the leadership for themselves. These dissenters were dealt with swiftly and brutally, leading to a further splintering of the Life Bringers. But Sachs didn't really care for the well-being for the Legion: for the first time in forever, he was free to research and experiment as much as he wished to.

Current situation

In the Forty First millennium, Wilmut Sachs is still alive, though to call him well would be a big stretch. A walking incubator of pestilence, Sachs serves as the high regent of Eden, the Daemon World ruled over by his Primarch Johannes Vrach. Like the rest of the Daemon Primarchs, Vrach neglects his domain in the material world, which leaves Sachs as the de-facto leader of the Life Bringers. Not all of his former Battle Brothers agree with this hierarchy, prompting many of them to leave and found their own realms within the Eye of Terror. The Devil of Vischmauz cares little for such dissent, since his main passion still lies with research, not political power. And research needs funding, which often leads Sachs to hire out his services to those few warlords of the Eye who can afford it.

Wilmut Sachs was a round man even before his corruption, he naturally gave the appearance of being soft despite his enhanced physiology. He wears a moustache and a monocle, both of which he has come to be known for. His doughy face and watery eyes give off the impression of a pudgy infant, but this is in direct conflict with the nature of their owner. Inflated by the numerous toxiferous gases his organs produce, his body is large, malformed and rotund in shape, the unnatural bodily processes constantly going on inside of it produce a repulsive symphony of physiological sounds that heralds his presence. At one point, reckless genetic experimentation Sachs performed on himself caused a permanent atrophy of his legs, turning them into misshapen blobs of flesh hanging from his massive underside, compelled to twitch spasmodically by the vestiges of muscle memory. This defect made Sachs incapable of locomotion, forcing him to graft spindly spider-like limbs to his lower body to carry him aloft.

The most drastic feature of Sachs is his constant decomposition. Over the course of his tenure as the Master of Life Bringers, he accumulated more gifts from Nurgle than even a genetically enhanced Space Marine organism could handle. This causes his body to decay so quickly that even a naked eye can easily see the decomposition process in motion. It generally takes between several days and several months for his body to decompose entirely, leaving nothing but a yellowish mouldy skeleton and a disembodied brain. Although this is a source of great discomfort for Sachs, his brilliant mind eventually found a way around this curse. He constantly keeps several dozen lobotomised clones of himself in a stasis field and, as soon as his current body rots to the point of being impractical to use, he takes one of his spare bodies from stasis and transplants his diseased brain into it, discarding his previous shell. Although he's done it countless times over the course of the millennia, several incidents did happen. For instance, one of his clones managed to escape before Sachs performed lobotomy on him, tricked a number of prominent Life Bringer champions into believing he was the real Sachs and started a civil war on Eden. Eventually, he was defeated and escaped with his followers to found one of the largest Nurgle-worshipping warbands, the Harbingers of Pestilence.

The goal and aspirations of Wilmut Sachs have come full circle. Whereas before the Heresy he searched desperately for the ultimate cure for all diseases, now he is trying just as hard to create the ultimate plague that nothing in the Galaxy could heal. Although he has unleashed several epidemics upon the Imperium and each one dwarfed its predecessors, all of them were ultimately stopped. One was studied by the Magi Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus until they found a cure, another was cured by an ancient Xenos artefact found by the Inquisition, and his best plague to date, the Überrot, was stopped by an Imperial Saint. Still, Sachs keeps experimenting with dedication deserving of a better application, an he will not stop until he has reached his goal.