Exterminatus



Exterminatus is an order to Destroy a planet in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Typically used only as a last resort, when the price of holding or retaking the world is deemed to be too high, or the threat of mutation or heresy too great to contain by conventional means. Typically, the order may only be given by a high-ranking Imperial Warmaster, or a member of the Inquisition.

Exterminatus can be carried out in many different ways. The most common is an Orbital bombardment, which can be done through the conventional firepower of the Imperial Navy. Typically, however, a quicker method was devised through the use of special weapons that are designed to destroy all life on the planet's surface.

Virus Bombs release a special type of virus designed to quickly spread and destroy all organic cellular structures, reducing all life on the planet's surface to a mass of slime. This process also releases millions of tons of flammable gases into the planet's atmosphere, so as a final touch, the Virus Bombs also ignite this gas, turning the atmosphere into a firestorm that usually takes out anything the virus somehow missed. Only those who may have escaped into specially-made shelters deep underground can survive a Virus Bomb attack. The planet Tallarn managed to escape complete destruction this way, but the once verdant world was forever transformed into a desert.

Cyclonic Torpedoes are more direct in action, immediately igniting the planet's atmosphere.

During the 13th Black Crusade, Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed ordered a massive reactor on the prison world of St. Josamine's Hope to be overloaded when it seemed that the forces of Chaos would finally take the world. Rather than a Nuclear meltdown, the reactor exploded, blowing the entire planet apart.