Mortis Thule - The Dead Hulls: Mortis Thule is quite simply one of the largest artificial objects found in Jericho Reach space, easily outmassing even Bastion-class space stations. Like all space hulks it appears out of the Warp at seemingly random times, ejecting into realspace with a roaring thunder of psychic energies such that Navigators across the region are alerted.Its violent appearance disgorges a trail of debris, as megatonnes of metal and rock crack away from the harsh arrival. This loss is more than made up for by new additions of void debris and those unfortunate vessels that find themselves melded into the Mortis Thule's conglomerate mass by powerful Warp tidal forces or worse.From the outside, the Mortis Thule is roughly flattened and ovoid in shape with large jagged spikes of torn rock and broken prows. The surface is pockmarked with craters from impacts and explosions, some so ancient that other bonded hulls obscure their shape. Not only Imperial vessels make up its body, for the ruins of numerous xenos voidships are also littered across the surface and undoubtedly are located inside as well.Elegant Aeldari wraithbone structures, crude Ork plating, and even fleshy Tyranid bioships can be seen strewn in the synthesis that makes up the space hulk, along with xenos vessels of unknown origin and archeotech ships predating the Imperium. Inside the Mortis Thule are the remains of countless more dead ships, each a story of uncaring fate or grave accident.Some are nearly intact, caught in sudden eddies while sailing the Empyrean's powerful seas and fused into the space hulk as both emerge into realspace. Others are broken hulls, ships dashed against the rock and sunken deep along with other Warp flotsam.Many have become connected together through random internal collision or artificial actions. All seem to contain artefacts of such exquisite value that despite the dangers there have been no shortages of those seeking to plunder the Mortis Thule.The items recovered range from ancient archeotech relics still being deciphered to baneful xenos weapons declared heretical by joint Ordos decrees, as well as present-day devices left behind by failed boarding parties.The sheer weight of treasures estimated aboard the Mortis Thule are one of the main reasons that the massive joint efforts needed to destroy or break up the space hulk have failed to coalesce long enough to perform the deed. For every one agency or power base that would wish it gone, there are a dozen more eager to plunder its secrets for their own benefit.Attempts to create a definitive map to guide future explorations have been doomed to failure however; each sighting reveals new arrangements of the melded assemblage with new ships appearing and older ones broken away.Pulse-mapping transponders buried deep via burrowing torpedoes have proven somewhat useful, but these invariably fail after only solar weeks of operation due to the stray radiation that permeates the Mortis Thule and even through internal sabotage. The latter is certainly a disquieting thought but not one unexpected given the nature of what lives inside.The space hulk is certainly a dangerous environment due to its shifting construction -- sections break away or settle deeper into the core with each Warp passage or close orbit to a demanding star -- but it is those that still live amidst the dead hulls that make the Mortis Thule a truly terrifyingly place.