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| “ | Rot... decay... entropy. There are no other absolutes. To deny me is to deny those fundamental truths, to stall the inevitable. No matter the strength of will standing against me, the might of arms assembled and deployed, all will fall. The Plague God cannot be denied, cannot be defeated, for he is the natural way of things - and their end. | „ |
| ~ Mortarion. |
Lord Mortarion, also known as Mortarion the Reaper, the Pale King, the Prince of Decay, and the Daemon Primarch of Nurgle, is a major antagonist in the grimdark science fantasy franchise Warhammer 40,000.
One of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind to lead the Space Marine armies of the Imperium of Man, Mortarion was snatched away by the four Chaos Gods as a baby and flung across the galaxy. The Primarch landed on the isolated death world Barbarus, where he was adopted by one of the tyrannical psychic rulers of the planet. As an adult, Mortarion discovered the full extent of his adoptive father's unethical leadership of the planet and plotted to overthrow him.
Before Mortarion could defeat his father however, the Emperor arrived on Barbarus and slew the tyrannical ruler himself. The Emperor of Mankind had launched a Great Crusade across the galaxy to unite the territories of mankind and search for his missing Primarch sons in the process. Although upset that his father had stolen his victory, Mortarion pledged his loyalty to his father and as such was given command of the Death Guard, a Space Marine Legion created using Mortarion's genetic template. With his Space Marine sons by his side, Mortarion waged war against the enemies of the Emperor during the Great Crusade.
On many battlefields, Mortarion and the Death Guard proved themselves to be the most resilient of the Emperor's sons. Warmaster Horus, the Emperor's second-in-command and one of Mortarion's Primarch brothers, was corrupted by the Chaos Gods and began plotting against the Imperium. The Death Lord, who had long felt dissatisfied with the Emperor and the Imperium at large, was convinced by his brother to join him in his planned rebellion. Overtime a full half of the Space Marine Legions and their respective Primarchs rallied under Horus and a galaxy-wide civil war later known as the Horus Heresy erupted between the forces of Chaos and the loyalists.
Eventually the time came for the traitor forces to attack Terra, the Imperium of Man's capital planet. However, during their voyage to the world the fleets of the Death Guard were trapped in the Immaterium, the plane of existence that the Chaos Gods called home. The Legion and their Primarch became infected with the Destroyer Plague and Nurgle's Rot, inflicting them with insufferable pain. Although the resilient warriors resisted for quite some time, Mortarion eventually relented and sold the souls of himself and his Legion to Nurgle, the Chaos Gods of Despair and Decay.
In return, Nurgle provided salvation. The Death Guard forces were granted immunity to their afflictions, and their bodies became host to the maladies of Nurgle. Mortarion was transformed into a Daemon Prince, granting him immortality and an even more imposing form. Although the Death Guard participated in the Siege of Terra, the loyalists ultimately claimed victory, with Mortarion himself banished to the Warp by Jaghatai Khan. Horus was slain and the Emperor was mortally wounded. A majority of the Traitor Legions retreated into the Immaterium, and unlike many Legions, the Death Guard remained a relatively unified fighting force for millennia to come. Mortarion continued to lead his sons in wars against the enemies of Nurgle, and vowed to one day topple the Imperium.
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Primarch Physiology
- Aquatic Respiration
- Enhanced Senses
- Longevity
- Superhuman Agility
- Superhuman Durability
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Strength
- Daemonic Gifts
- Disease Immunity: The Daemon Primarch Mortarion's already impressive resistance to disease and toxins was transformed into an absolute immunity upon his investiture as a Daemon Prince. No known malady in the universe could deteriorate him, nor could any disease found within the Garden of Nurgle itself. Even though his body became a festering point for Nurgle's foul diseases, Mortarion remained completely unaffected.
- Flight: Mortarion's daemonic form includes a pair of gigantic moth-like wings sprouting from his back.
- Immortality: As a Daemon Prince, Mortarion's body is composed entirely of Warp energy and thus he cannot be killed by conventional means, merely banished back to the Immaterium.
Abilities[]
- Genius Intellect
- Experienced Leader
- Expert Engineer: Among the many talents that Mortarion possessed due to his brilliant mind was an understanding of machinery. He was capable of designing great weapons and vehicles, and could even use his infernal knowledge to invent monstrous Daemon Engines. An example of Mortarion's work was the Plagueburst Crawler, a potent Daemon battle tank tirelessly designed by the Primarch himself over the period of several months.
- Master Tactician
- Master Duelist: Mortarion was a feared opponent with his scythe Silence in hand. His combat style relied on his immense endurance and prodigious strength, utilizing slow but heavy strikes. As a mortal, he fought Jaghatai Khan to a stalemate on Prospero, but as a Daemon Prince, he was temporarily successful in killing Roboute Guilliman before the Emperor resurrected him.
Equipment[]
- Silence: Mortarion's melee weapon of choice was a scythe rumoured to have originally been wielded by his "father" Necare on Barbarus. Of the personal weapons wielded by the Primarchs, Mortarion's scythe was considered one of the most fearsome. A monstrously large two-handed weapon, Silence's blade was longer than an ordinary human. After the Pale King's corruption by the Chaos Gods, a Daemon of Nurgle possessed a censer that was infused into the top of the weapon's haft. The presence of the Daemon infused the blade of the scythe with a lethal poison that could kill an opponent with a mere nick. Whatever was touched by the cursed blade degraded into putrid ruins, with flesh and metal rotting and rusting away instantly.
- Lantern: Mortarion's ranged weapon of choice was a large brass-colored energy pistol known was the "Lantern." The Lantern was forged in the ancient times of the Age of Strife predating the Imperium of Man. Its creator was the leader of a cult which worshipped a dragon god on the planet Shenlong. After the Emperor slew the Shenlongi cultists, Mortarion came upon the Lantern in the armory of his father's personal Battle Barge Bucephelus. Taking the relic pistol as a gift from the Emperor, Mortarion went on to use the Lantern as his preferred firearm. He even continued to use the weapon throughout the ten millennia following his ascension to Daemonhood. When fired, the Lantern produced a beam of highly-concentrated energy with a fairly long range for a pistol that incinerated whatever was in its line of fire.
- Phosphex Bombs: Mortarion always carries a string of globe-shaped brass censers which contain poisonous gases from his homeworld which were utilized as Phospex Bombs. Phosphex is a rare and extremely deadly corrosive toxin and incendiary compound. It expands on contact with the air into a seething, liquid mist which burns with an eerie white-green flame that is attracted to movement. This flame ignites metal and eats into living tissue, and more ominously can not be extinguished by any means short of exposure to a vacuum.
Quotes[]
| “ | Forget no insult, my sons, as I have never forgotten those of my father, of the Emperor, nor those of Horus. Forgive no slight or grievance. Hold your bitterness deep within, and there let it fester. Let it roil and squirm and churn, until you are filled with bile so poisonous that all you touch falls to ruin. Thus shall you serve Nurgle best. Thus shall you spread his virulent gifts across the false Imperium, and watch its final rotting... | „ |
| ~ Mortarion. |
| “ | For our vision, they condemned us. For the sin of seeing clearly what our father - their precious Emperor - had become, they called us traitor and cast us out. But now, my sons, now there shall be a reckoning. | „ |
| ~ Mortarion. |
Gallery[]
