Sephran Mawl

Polyphy is the adopted pseudonym of the infamous Traitor-General Sephran Mawl, a noted Imperial hero who saw service in the recent stages of the centuries-long Veet Ling-Cambylon War, and led the Cambylon Division with distinction in the Mellissan Secession campaign.

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Early History

Noted for his hands-on and humanistic approach to war, Mawl was already a seasoned commander by the time of the Mellissan Secession, and he was well-loved to the point of idolatory by the men and women under his command. Brooding and war-hungry, Mawl was seen as a model commander, and by the end of the campaign, he had the ear of several influential Imperial figures – all of whom reported him as being personally and passionately dismayed at High Command's lack of appreciation for the realities of the campaign. He was officially censured over the Terror Hill Incident, when Ork mercenaries were reported to have fought alongside troops under his command; and the Murder Rations order that stripped a nearby agri-world of its tithe for the year to feed the Imperial troops – but acts like this only strengthened the adoration of the High-Colonel.

Rumours of collusion with Tau forces were dismissed as Xenos propaganda, though the Inquisitor Josiah Maltheus was posted to keep an eye on Mawl. The two are known to have spent much time together, and Mawl's reputation emerged stronger than ever after Maltheus' glowing report.

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Post-Mellissa

At the close of the Mellissan Campaign, Sephran Mawl was viewed with some disquiet by his peers – he was a strange and distant man, gripped by a frightening vision of humanity's potential and obsessed with 'improving' and 'civilising' mankind. Political pressure ensured the popular hero's promotion to general, and it was with some relief that the High Marshal dispatched him and his entire brigade to Mawl's homeworld of Cambylon when murmurs of discontent on the world provided a perfect opportunity to maroon Mawl on a distant and unimportant world.

On his return to Cambylon – by then in the grip of civil war between the Natstats of Slavmyl and Incemuth – General Mawl immediately led an elite cadre of veteran troops into the Blackwoods region of Incemuth, where they disappeared for several months, emerging only after atomic detonations launched from Slavmyl and Incemuth had wrought havoc across the surface of the world.

Alarm and rioting in Mawl's home Natstat of Lanton caused the panicking Governor to immediately order Mawl's withdrawal from Incemuth, an order flouted by the General in a politically charged fashion. The returning message boat was daubed with a disquieting tract, apparantly dictated by the General to the Governor's archivist. The archivist had elected to stay alongside the General, describing him as 'Genius' and 'Messiah'; and encouraging the Governor to hand over military control to Mawl, now styling himself as Polyphy. The Archivist's index finger was included in the message boat as a token of devotion to the 'Great Poet of Incemuth, Polyphy the Magnificent'.

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Reprisals

Mustering an Expeditionary Force from the Lanton and Semitt Natstats, the Governor support Slavmyl's attacks on Incemuth in a hasty alliance. Unable to make meaningful inroads in the swampy morass of Incemuth, and harried by guerilla attacks from Mawl's men, the Expeditionary Force was unable to pull out of the area when reports came through of forces loyal to Mawl revealing themselves in Lanton itself. The Governor sent a general plea for help from off-world at this point, and has not been heard from since.

Within weeks, the main conurbs of Lanton had fallen, and a military regime loyal to Mawl had toppled the Dictator-For-Life and were ruling as the Children of Polyphy. Caught without support in Incemuth, the loyal Expeditionary forces were systematically wiped out – though disturbing and fragmentary record report that whole regiments were surrendering or defecting to the Children of Polyphy even as the hastily-assembled XII and XIII Veet Ling regiments deployed from off-world.

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Current Affairs
Reports from Cambyses are fragmentary at best. It is believed that the Children of Polyphy have now conquered four-fifths of the shattered worlds; and the XII and XIII Veet Ling have either been destroyed or subsumed into the Traitor-General's ranks. If this is so, Mawl now has access to interplanetary capabilities.

At least two Inquisitors are believed to be in the area: Inquisitor Maltheus – from whom nothing has been heard – and another unnamed puritan. The sector waits to hear from either one of them..