Welcome back, fellow lore enthusiasts! In today’s post, we dive headlong into the maelstrom of war, treachery and the foul stench of decay. We delve into the saga of the Death Guard, the infamous servants of Nurgle, the Chaos God of Disease and Decay. This is a tale of trench warfare, demonic invasions, and virulent bioweapons. So tighten your power armor and let’s plunge into the abyss.
As the 41st Millennium dawned, the Death Guard, under the command of the demon primarch Mortarion, unleashed a deadly contagion upon the Imperial forces on an unsuspecting world, transforming it into a death world. This event triggered a cataclysmic chain of events, culminating in a full-blown demonic invasion. The world was subsequently declared off-limits by the Imperium, a silent tombstone to the horrors that had transpired.
In an act of defiance and retribution, the Grey Knights, the renowned demon hunters, launched a daring assault on the Death Guard on the planet of Corovin. Their goal was ambitious – banish Mortarion forever. Despite their courage and might, the demon primarch proved too powerful, felling Supreme Grandmaster Jonian in battle. In a desperate attempt, the newly appointed Supreme Grandmaster Calor Drago performed a banishment ritual, casting Mortarion’s spirit into the warp. This was, however, a pyrrhic victory at best, merely providing Mortarion with a respite to gather fresh forces and plot his next invasion.
Meanwhile, in the shadows of Hive Pandoralondon, Typhus, the Herald of Nurgle, led an infestation, transforming the hive city into a charnel house of shambling corpses. The sacred Imperial world of Kalandula also fell prey to the forces of decay. Despite the valiant efforts of the defenders, the world was corrupted, its statues weeping tears of filth and water sources turning to jellied slime. As the body counts spiraled, the warriors of the Fourth Plague Company, led by the demon known as the Eater of Lives, emerged from warp rifts, crushing both Imperial and Tau forces and claiming the world.
In another corner of the galaxy, on the ice-clad world of Anaheim, the Death Guard’s vectorium known as the Putrid Choir seized control of the Polar Fortress City. Despite wave after wave of Imperial retaliation, the tenacious death guard defenses held. Amidst snowstorms tainted by Nurglite plague spores, a prolonged siege ensued, lasting for solar weeks and then months. After three standard years, the remaining Imperial forces retreated, leaving the world to the plague marines.
The Forge World of Paradox also fell into the clutches of the plague marines. A hulking barge delivering heavy ores opened its ramp to reveal a swarm of plague marines and bloated drones. During the ensuing chaos, the Astartes smeared diseased gore onto the machinery, spreading Sanguis Flux and corrupting the forge world’s machine spirits. This event marked the beginning of the Paradoxian War, a conflict that would see the rise of an army of proto-demon engines and possessed servitors.
The 42nd Millennium, known as the Time of Outbreaks, saw the greatest offensive by the Death Guard during the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler. As the galaxy was split by the Great Rift, reality burst open to spill warp stuff into the galaxy. Plague fleets struck across the Imperium, spreading misery and decay. Several prosperous star systems fell entirely into Nurgle’s grasp, becoming the Scourge Stars, a feculent fortress for the servants of the Plague Father within real space.
From these suppurating staging posts, Mortarion launched his campaigns into Ultramar, in what would become known as the Plague Wars. During the Siege of Gorian, a world within light years of the Scourged Stars, the Death Guard employed plague burst crawlers as their weapon of choice. These diseased munitions slammed into manufactorum stack vents, spilling their filth into the labor furnaces and creating giant toxic plague censers. The resultant smog clouds drove the Imperial defenders into the open, making them easy prey for the guns of the Death Guard.
This tale of war and decay is but a chapter in the ongoing saga of the Death Guard. With the galaxy in turmoil and the forces of the Imperium stretched thin, one can only wonder what horrors the Death Guard and their pestilent master, Nurgle, will unleash next. Only time will tell. For now, remember – in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
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