Title: The Unseen Tumult: Mortarion’s Dance with the Chaos Gods
The tale of Mortarion, the Primarch, is a saga of unspeakable rage, deception, and an unexpected plunge into the abyss of psychic abilities. The prophecy of him becoming a champion of one of the chaos Gods, Mortarion, filled him with a fury that even dwarfed his disdain for his father, the Emperor. He saw through the Emperor and his close associates, viewing them as tyrants, sorcerers, filthy liars. Mortarion, however, held himself aloof from this perceived corruption, considering himself the only pure entity untouched by the warp’s corruption.
His self-deception amused the Neverborn, the daemon creatures of the warp. Even as he projected an image of nobility and purity, the Neverborn saw the internal turmoil eating at him. They goaded Mortarion to gaze into the immaterium’s depths, and in the process, revealed their true form to him – a gigantic insect. Despite Mortarion’s colossal physical strength, he was unable to crush the creature as defeating a being from an unreal space required psychic powers – powers that Mortarion had shunned.
In a surprising twist, Mortarion summoned latent psychic abilities, concealed deep within his soul, to fend off the Neverborn’s attack. Even as he internally protested, the warp’s forces flowed from his fingertips, slaying the daemon, and drawing him closer to the chaos he despised. This act made him the first to witness a glimmer of what the Death Lord would eventually become.
This encounter with the Neverborn seemingly altered Mortarion’s staunch stance towards psychic abilities. He found himself contemplating how he had been a puppet in the hands of powerful factions for too long. Embracing psychic abilities, he believed, was a path to greater control and power. However, this acceptance was not without its internal conflicts. He loathed sorcery and despised the thought of becoming like his foster father, Nekar. Yet, he consoled himself with the belief that being a master of the warp was better than being its pawn.
In the assault on Terra at the end of the heresy, the Death Guard was to side with Horus, Mortarion’s brother. But the entire fleet was trapped in the immaterium due to the actions of Typhon, first Captain of the Word Bearers. Typhon promised Mortarion a path to greatness, but it led them into a nightmare. Under the pretense of their supposed loyalty to the Emperor, all fleet navigators were killed. Mortarion, despite his aversion to sorcery, agreed to rely on his psychic gifts to traverse the warp.
The Death Guard fleet found itself lost in the warp, arriving in the domains of the ancient god. The legion was tormented by the fickle currents of the immaterium and the incessant influence of Nurgle, dooming them to a purposeless existence. A terrible viral contamination ravaged the ships, and Mortarion could do nothing but watch as his sons fell victim to the unnatural disease. The toxic plague spread, mocking the famed resilience of the Death Guard to infections and toxins. Mortarion’s helplessness mirrored his past failure to defeat Nekar and his reliance on the Emperor. Once again, Mortarion found himself vulnerable, a pawn in a cosmic game much larger than himself.
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