Yu'Vath - The Whisperer: In the aftermath of the Angevin Crusade's bloody war with the Yu'Vath, the remnants of these xenos' slave armies and techno-Warp constructs were scattered, broken and dying, across the Koronus Expanse. For the most part, these grim reminders of the alien's dark empire slunk away into the shadowy corners of the void, and were lost from sight forever. However, some were found by those who came after -- explorers, treasure hunters and Rogue Traders.The Whisperer, an ancient, sentient Yu'Vath voidcraft constructed of dark energy, is one such spoil -- discovered in a forgotten battlefield between unnamed stars by a Rogue Trader of an unknown dynasty. Unable to return with it to the Calixis Sector (where Imperial powers would have been sure to destroy it), but also believing it too valuable to abandon, the Rogue Trader took it to the newly-founded Svard System and concealed it beneath the rolling cloud layers of the system's gas giant.Here it remained, considered harmless, until such time as a descendant of the original Rogue Trader could return and learn its secrets. Unfortunately, he never did and was lost to the void like so many before him -- and so the Whisperer was forgotten.Early in the ninth century of the 41st Millennium, a strange phenomena began to appear among the citizens of the dying Svard System. People were having dreams of a great dark presence -- always close by but always unseen -- that would whisper into their ear as they slept.No one could remember what this presence was or what it had whispered to them, but the fact that it was afflicting so many people, of all castes, ages and locations, prompted the star system's governing body -- the Crystal Council -- to begin an investigation based on fears of Warp-sorcery or the emergence of a proscribed cult. Unfortunately, before any real knowledge as to the nature of the dreams was uncovered, the entire system began to suffer acts of terrorism and sabotage.Ordinary citizens began attacking their neighbours and striking at the very infrastructure of the system itself. At first, the council thought this was its fears of a cult confirmed, but as reports flooded in, they could find no plan behind the attacks beyond anarchy and no link between the attackers beyond the fact that most seemed to have dreamed of the Whisperer.Soon there were countless scores of Whisperers -- ordinary citizens turned by the subversive power of the Yu'Vath vessel that was trapped within the gas giant of the Svard System. These Whisperers had become "cannon fodder" for their xenos master and soon existed in the hundreds of thousands.Whisperers are, in essence, citizens of Svard turned to the will of the original Whisperer. Whisperers are not zombies or automatons, but rather living, breathing, thinking humans that will work together as a well-trained team under the guidance of the Whisperer.They are also very unnerving to talk to or even to be near when their true nature is known, for while they can counterfeit emotions and even show fear, they have (in a way) had their souls scooped out and show no humanity or reluctance in the face of the terrifying and the amoral.Whisperers are also not religious fanatics -- in fact, they do not worship the Whisperer, or even acknowledge its existence. They are just extensions of the alien construct's will; clever semi-autonomous extensions that can draw on their past skills and memories, but extensions nevertheless.If the agents of the Imperium can manage to find and destroy the Whisperer those turned by its dark dreams will recover -- although they may never be trusted by their fellow citizens again. The motivation of the Whisperers is simple; fulfill the will of the Whisperer. In essence, they are its puppets and enact its will within the Svard System.The motivation of the Whisperer is to repair its wounds and free itself from the gravity well of the gas giant, thus destroying the Svard System, and then to escape into the void to complete its ancient mission of war against the Imperium.To this end, it has spent years dominating the weakest human minds of Svard and using them to supply it with fabricated materials and massive amounts of raw energy. Should the Whisperer manage to escape, it would wreak havoc across the Koronus Expanse and the Calixis Sector.