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Fidus Kryptman is the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor who discovered the Tyranids and has fought them ever since. His methods range from brilliant to monstrous.
He is famous for his ruthlessness, willing to sacrifice entire worlds to stop the Tyranids. His Cordon and his manipulation of Leviathan into the Octarius Sector made him infamous. He was censured by the Inquisition for his methods but continued to fight the Tyranids. Inquisitor Kryptman of the Ordo Xenos is famous for his ruthless response to Hive Fleet Leviathan. He fought alongside the Ultramarines and Mortifactors at Tarsis Ultra. He then created Kryptman's Cordon, abandoning or destroying all the worlds in the hive fleet's path. The Inquisition stripped him of his rank for it. He was too unstable to keep his office but not a heretic.
Origins
He made his name as the Hero of the Macharian Heresy before his investigation of the destroyed research world Tyran Primus revealed the Tyranid threat.
Before the Tyranids, he made his name in the Macharian Heresy, an Imperial civil war in which he earned the title of hero. His discovery of Tyran Primus's ruins changed his life, and he devoted himself to fighting the Tyranids. His knowledge of them made him a leading expert.
Kryptman made his name in the First Tyrannic War. Contact with the Tyranids had begun at Tyran, an Adeptus Mechanicus research outpost on the Eastern Fringe whose life was wiped out by Hive Fleet Behemoth in 745.M41. Kryptman tried to restore communications through Thandros and found the system already dead. Its astropaths had been unable to call for help through the Tyranids' psychic blockade, and it had fought and died alone. When Behemoth reached Ultramar, a large part of the fleet stripped the garden world of Prandium, once called the jewel of Ultramar, to bare rock. Kryptman had warned Marneus Calgar, but Calgar was still shocked to the core.
Key events
- Discovered the remains of Tyran Primus after Hive Fleet Behemoth consumed it and warned the Imperium.
- His warning prepared the defenders of Macragge for Behemoth's assault.
- Investigated the Tyranid invasion of Tarsis Ultra alongside Uriel Ventris.
- Ordered Kryptman's Cordon, a belt of deliberately scoured worlds to starve Hive Fleet Leviathan, and was censured by the Inquisition for it.
- Worked with the Deathwatch to divert Leviathan into the Ork empire of Octarius, setting the two xenos races against each other.
In 997.M41 Kryptman saw the signs of a new invasion and ordered the Kryptman Census. Dozens of astropaths were burned out trying to contact worlds on every fringe of the Imperium. The pattern of answers, and of silences, revealed Hive Fleet Leviathan rising from below the galactic plane in two widely separated prongs, closing like jaws.
At Tarsis Ultra in 999.M41, his Adeptus Mechanicus Magos Biologis, Locard, studied a captured Lictor and made a poison from its genetic structure. Kryptman's Deathwatch delivered it to the Norn-Queen aboard the last hive ship of that Leviathan tendril, bringing down the swarm. Graham McNeill's Ultramarines novel Warriors of Ultramar tells the story. Leviathan still went on to destroy the forge world Gryphonne IV, home of the War Griffons Titan Legion. That loss pushed Kryptman toward the Octarius gambit, using captured Genestealers to lure the Hive Fleet into the Ork empire.
Battles & campaigns
- Tarsis Ultra (997.M41): He led Deathwatch Kill-teams to help crush half of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
- Chordelis: He invoked Exterminatus against the world despite Uriel Ventris's opposition.
- Kryptman's Cordon: He created an extermination zone in front of Leviathan.
Personality
Ruthless, pragmatic and obsessed with stopping the Great Devourer by any means.
He is ruthless and pragmatic, willing to do whatever it takes to stop the Tyranids. His obsession with the Great Devourer has made him dangerous to the Imperium as well as its enemies. His methods are monstrous but often effective.
Weapons & Vehicles
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Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (2)
Factions
- The Inquisition primary faction
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Kryptman is the Inquisitor who first understood the Tyranid threat, then made the controversial decision to lure Tyranids into Ork-held space at Octarius. His decisions saved countless worlds and cost others dearly. His career shows the Inquisition's brutal arithmetic, and his willingness to sacrifice worlds for the greater survival of Humanity divides opinion inside and outside the Ordo Xenos to this day. Kryptman's name is attached to one of the Imperium's most extreme anti-Tyranid strategies.
Exile did not end his involvement. Later, as the mysterious Hive Fleet Tiamet appeared, the outcast Inquisitor arrived unannounced at the Deathwatch's Watch Fortress Haltmoat. Watch Commander Vilnus agreed to hear the grim theories he had brought about the new fleet's purpose.
Appearances & sources
- Warriors of Ultramar (Graham McNeill)
- Codex: Tyranids and Deathwatch background
- Era Indomitus campaign books