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During a discussion on the most lethal gun in 40k, someone brought up an interesting idea: the most lethal Imperial weapon is the Exterminatus.

This is both true and false, as the "Exterminatus" is not a single weapon, but an order given to fire one or several weapons that are designed to destroy a planet.

So... not restricting ourselves to the Imperium of Man, or even to military orders the Galaxy over, what do you all believe are the most lethal words in the history of the Galaxy?

Please don't be too silly, as this is a genuine question propagated by a setting soaked in myth.

Fire!
Probably the most widely used order to begin some kind of nasty death dealing process...

Let the galaxy burn. Let the heavens bleed.

Not really an order, but if I remember correctly, Horus said that when he virus-bombed 12-billion people to death on Isstvan III.

Actually...
"Blood for the blood god" probably has the most death behind it...

Honestly, I was going to suggest "Waagh!", but you both have a point.

how about ''Heretic''? It sort of leads to Exterminatus, you know Inquisitors and stuff...

"For the Emperor"

I suspect more people have thrown their lives away to that cry than to anything else.

that language Enuncia from the Ravenor series that kills people simply by speaking it seemed pretty deadly as far as words go.

"The shadow, the shadow is upon us!"

The first sign of an encroaching Tyranid invasion, never a light matter.

Now that i think again, perhaps surrendering yourself to the chaos gods with a mere ''yes'' would be the most destructive. Not only to yourself, it may turn you into an avatar of the gods or just some mutated killy machine.

It's gotta be WAAAAGH! or "For the Emperor!".

Mr Nobody wrote:"The shadow, the shadow is upon us!"

The first sign of an encroaching Tyranid invasion, never a light matter.

Those words would be terrifying, but they don't cause the Tyranids to descend. They probably save lives by heralding an evacuation. If we knew what the Tyranids were saying, then those words would be deadly.

The lethal part of that warning would probably be: "Alert the Inquisitors." thereby bringing the death of billions of Guardsmen and Tyranids.

Space Marine.

Brother Heinrich wrote:that language Enuncia from the Ravenor series that kills people simply by speaking it seemed pretty deadly as far as words go.

My first thought upon seeing the title of the thread as well. Featured in Propero Burns, too.

purplefood wrote:Actually...
"Blood for the blood god" probably has the most death behind it...

I'll throw my opinion in with purplefood on this one.

Either WAAAAAAAGH!!!!, or the adequate tabletop version, "First rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE!"

Either Waaaaaghhhhh!!!, or (more likely) whatever the Eldar words for "This extravagant life is great. What's the worse that can happen?"

I think it's gotta be when the eldar experiment, and it all goes wrong. One big Oops... heralds the making of a daemon, and the death of millions so blame it all on the eldar, cos you jus' can't trust dem!

Son 0f Dorn wrote:

Brother Heinrich wrote:that language Enuncia from the Ravenor series that kills people simply by speaking it seemed pretty deadly as far as words go.

My first thought upon seeing the title of the thread as well. Featured in Propero Burns, too.

really? I've not got a chance to read it yet, haven't been able to find a copy. That language was awesome though, very original Idea as far as sci-fi stuff goes.

Mr Nobody wrote:"The shadow, the shadow is upon us!"

The first sign of an encroaching Tyranid invasion, never a light matter.

Either this or Waaagh! if you ask me. Exterminatus is up there on that list too though.

'...'

- Necron battlecry

It would have to be whatever the Deceiver said to trick the Necrontyr. That led to the death of all Necrontyr, as well as the war against the Old Ones that led to the grimdark future that makes up 40k.

I'd have to go with '...' the tyranid psychic talk that sends them into battle!

You're all wrong. It'd be some chaos general on Cadia looking at a strangely shaped piece of grass/sand/bacteria exclaiming "CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!" in the rapidly dwindling seconds before being stood on by the Imperator Titan that was hiding behind whatever he was looking at.

"Fetch!"

The Space Wolves battle cry.

Well, one particularly destructive word, if uttered in conjunction with the throwing of a stick into a crowd near Space Wolves would be "fetch".

In all seriousness, I think most of them have been said already.. "Blood for The Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!", "For The Emperor!" "Exterminatus", "Fire!" etc.. "Kill dat fing fast!" might also be one.

To be honest, anything spoken by anyone worth knowing in 40k seems to result in someone, somewhere, dying.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Andilus Greatsword wrote:"Fetch!"

The Space Wolves battle cry.

Damnit, ninja'd!

DarkVoidOf40K wrote:To be honest, anything spoken by anyone worth knowing in 40k seems to result in someone, somewhere, dying.

I suppose so. In the IoM, the guys standing back with flowers saying "Can't we all just get along?" tend to die horribly.

Well of course.. such concepts as happiness and joy and friendliness don't exist in 40k.. as far as the Inquisition is concerned at least.

"Mr. High Protector of the Formosa Sector, we have reports of cultists on-"

"Bomb it."

"Oh.. righty then.. we also have a possible Daemonic incursion at-"

"Bomb it."

"Are you sure sir?"

"Of course.. now get to it!"

*5 minutes later*

"Adjutant, why is there an Imperial warship above my residence?"

"Coteaz, Sir, you ordered me to bomb the Daemonic incursion in your back garden."

Coteaz - *facepalm*

Brother Heinrich wrote:

Son 0f Dorn wrote:

Brother Heinrich wrote:that language Enuncia from the Ravenor series that kills people simply by speaking it seemed pretty deadly as far as words go.

My first thought upon seeing the title of the thread as well. Featured in Propero Burns, too.

really? I've not got a chance to read it yet, haven't been able to find a copy. That language was awesome though, very original Idea as far as sci-fi stuff goes.

It's just a very brief cameo of it, but it is in there

Just the raging laughter of Nurgle as he pours countless diseases onto the galaxy.

Or failing that, 'SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONES!'