vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Mordian Iron Guard - Infantry Regiments: 2nd Mordian Regiment - The Mordian 2nd took part in the famous Macharian Crusade fought between 392.M41 and 399.M41. They achieved a monumental victory during the Invasion of Jucha.3rd Mordian Regiment - The 3rd Mordian is the most decorated regiment in their homeworld's proud history of service to the Imperium. One of their more notable campaigns occurred during the defence of Hive Barbarossa against WAAAGH! Dregruk, when the 3rd Mordian faced a horde of barbaric Orks at the Battle of the Marble Garden.10th Mordian Regiment - The Mordian 10th fought in the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41.11th Mordian Regiment - The Mordian 11th fought in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.18th Mordian Regiment - A newly-raised Mordian Iron Guard regiment, commanded by Colonel Kostan Drescher26th Mordian Regiment - The Mordian 26th took part in the Fall of Medusa V campaign, serving under Lord Marshal Graf Harazahn of the Vostroyan Firstborn, supreme commander of the Imperial forces engaged on that doomed world.50th Mordian Regiment, "Fort Baton Regulars" - A Mordian Iron Guard regiment that has seen much action over its history.56th Mordian Regiment - The Mordian 56th proved instrumental in defeating the rebels during the Komarl Revolt in 999.M41. This Iron Guard regiment executed ten percent of the remaining population of Komarl for failing in their duty to the Emperor. The fear of further reprisals from the Mordian garrison left on Komarl ensured no further recidivism.227th Mordian Regiment - The 227th was destroyed in a gruesome ten day pitched battle at the Siege of Sussuro-Prime Hive against the Orks of WAAAGH! Garaghak on Forsarr in 994.M41.410th Mordian Iron Guard Regiment - The 410th Mordian Iron Guard Regiment lost its 5th Company during an advance against entrenched Chaos forces. The 14th Company encountered mounted Daemonettes of Slaanesh, who killed the members of three platoons. When other platoons fell back, the commander of the 14th Company, Captain Dechoff, allowed himself to be killed by the Daemonettes rather than face the wrath of the regimental commissar.
Mordian Iron Guard - Armoured Regiments: 4th Mordian Armoured Regiment, "Cobalt Lions" - A famed Mordian Armoured Regiment.12th Mordian Armoured Regiment - The Mordian 12th Armoured are a fine example of the customary discipline and rigourous drills of the Mordian Iron Guard. The close-knit Leman Russ crews of this armoured regiment have been transformed from a group of individuals into a single lethal entity, with many eyes and many arms, but only one will. They are a regiment comprised of 15 companies, each consisting of 13 Leman Russ Battle Tanks, with the command tank in each company a rare variant of the mighty vehicle, such as a Leman Russ Vanquisher or Leman Russ Executioner. The crews of the 12th are trained to an exacting standard, and understand their roles and duties well enough to require only the most cursory supervision by their tank's commander. This, at least, is the theory. The Mordian 12th are untried and untested except in the mock battles of their training, fought through the cavernous holds of the troop transport Deliverance during the regiment's transit to the Calixis Sector. Recently moved from the reserves muster on Kalf to the eternally-dark battlegrounds of Nox on the Spinward Front, the 12th have yet to face more than a brief skirmish, against enemies wise enough to withdraw in the face of the brutal might of an Imperial armoured regiment. While each is a veteran of the constant conflicts on their homeworld, their skills as vehicle crew are still fresh from training, and have not yet been tempered by the realities of battle. Their commanding officer, Colonel Halon Tanz, is a veteran of decades of riot suppression and defensive actions against Chaos raiders -- a calm and confident leader, well-versed in the doctrines of the Tactica Imperialis. His warriors, true to the traditions of the Iron Guard, obey his every command without question and without hesitation, and trust absolutely in the chain of command that links him to each and every man in the regiment, from the keen-eyed gunner of Tanz’s own Leman Russ Vanquisher, Iron Spear, to the lowliest menial responsible for the cleaning, refuelling and simple maintenance of the vehicles between battles.16th Mordian Armoured Regiment - The Mordian 16th Armoured Regiment is a notable armoured regiment of Mordian Iron Guard who have earned multiple battle honours in the Emperor's service.278th Mordian Armoured Regiment - The Mordian 278th Armoured took part in the Battle for Baric Six when it lost two entire armoured companies due to a Deathstrike Missile Launcher stolen by Ork Lootas.
Mordian Iron Guard - Armoured Companies: 3rd Mordian Heavy Tank Company - The 3rd Mordian Heavy Tank Company is known to include a Mars Pattern Shadowsword (possibly called Alpha Three) as the third tank of the company, although the rest of the company is a mix of Baneblades, Shadowswords and Stormblades. The super-heavy tanks of Alpha Three have two confirmed Titan kills.
Mordian Iron Guard - Notable Mordian Iron Guard Personnel: General Kraig - Senior commanding officer of the Mordian 26th Armoured Regiment during the Fall of Medusa V campaign.Colonel Iklaus Reinecker - Colonel Reinecker was the commanding officer of the 237th Mordian Siege Regiment and a specialist in urban warfare. Under his command the 237th survived many wars and battles until the dire events on the Imperial Hive World of Phlegethon, where the regiment faced both the Blood Disciples Chaos Space Marines and the frenzied Khorne-worshipping population of the Hive World with courage, but ultimately proved powerless against the fury of Skarbrand the Exiled One. Colonel Reinecker usually led his regiment from the front, his personal Chimera Guardian of Kulth always close to the frontlines.Colonel Halon Tanz - Colonel Tanz is the commanding officer of the as-yet unblooded 12th Mordian Armoured Regiment. Tanz is a veteran of solar decades of riot suppression and defensive actions against Chaos raiders. He is a calm and confident leader, well-versed in the doctrines of the Tactica Imperialis. His warriors, true to the traditions of the Iron Guard, obey his every command without question and without hesitation, and trust absolutely in the chain-of-command that links him to each and every man in the regiment, from the keen-eyed gunner of Tanz's own Leman Russ Vanquisher, Iron Spear, to the lowliest menial responsible for the cleaning, refuelling and simple maintenance of the regiment's vehicles between battles.Commissar Caeditz - Attached to a fresh siege platoon sent to fight rebels on Typhos Prime, Commissar Caeditz identified Lieutenant Kage as an impostor due to Kage wearing a Mordian Iron Guard uniform with the name Hernandez stenciled upon it and had him placed under guard. Badly wounded during a subsequent attack, Caeditz requested and received a mercy killing from Kage.Commissar Stromberg - Stromberg was the regimental commissar of the 237th Mordian Siege Regiment.Captain Dechoff - Commander of the 14th Company, 410th Mordian Iron Guard Regiment, who advanced against the forces of Chaos subsequent to the loss of the regiment's 5th Company. As he was unable to stop a rout following an encounter with mounted Daemonettes of Slaanesh, he allowed himself to be killed rather than face the wrath of the regimental commissar.Lieutenant Brusak - A lieutenant of the 26th Mordian Armoured Regiment during the Fall of Medusa V.Lieutenant Martinez - Commander of a fresh siege platoon sent to fight rebels on Typhos Prime. Martinez was killed while leading an attack with Lieutenant Kage of the 13th Penal Legion. The platoon then recognized Kage as their new commander, who led the platoon, killing snipers and destroying a rebel Leman Russ Demolisher siege tank.Sergeant Kolst - A sergeant of the 211th Mordian Regiment, Capital Garrison.
Mordian Iron Guard - Trivia: The uniform of the Mordian Iron Guard is loosely based off both the United States Marine Corps Blue Dress uniforms, and potentially the Prussian Lützowsches Freikorps uniform during the Napoleonic Wars.
Mordian Iron Guard - Sources: 13th Legion (Novel) by Gav Thorpe, Ch. 6Chapter Approved 2004 pg. 47Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Regiments of Distinction - Mordian Iron Guard"Codex: Astra Militarum (8th Edition), pp. 27, 29Codex: Astra Militarum (9th Edition), pg. 19Codex: Imperial Guard (2nd Edition), pp. 13-15Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pp. 9, 30, 59Codex:Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pp. 16, 25, 55Imperial Armour - Apocalypse, pg. 6Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pp. 37, 95Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pg. 77Only War: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 52-53, 298The Fall of Medusa V (Campaign Booklet), pg. 33The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book)The Thirteenth Black Crusade, pg. 91Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (8th Edition), pp. 164-165Space Marine Legends: Lemartes (Novel) by David Annandale, pp. 41-53Third War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Mordian Iron Guard
Mordigael - Mordigael: Mordigael is a Blood Angel seconded to the Deathwatch. He has attained the ranks of watch commander and master of the vigil for Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach.He is a quick and decisive commander of warriors with a natural charisma bound to a terrifying skill in battle. Indeed, he is seen as a paragon of the qualities and traditions of his Chapter.The watch commander's features are sharp and handsome, as if cut from the pale stone statue of an Imperial saint, while his eyes burn with almost feverish intensity.He delights in the perfection of all his undertakings, from practice in the martial disciplines to the contemplation on the future implications of all things of note that bears on his sacred duty.
Mordigael - History: For over five standard centuries, Mordigael has served his Emperor and his Chapter; on three occasions, he has taken up the duty of serving in the Deathwatch. One of these past terms of service was in the Jericho Reach itself.Mordigael's current watch has lasted over five solar decades, and has seen him achieve the honour of being named Master of the Vigil near the end of the 41st Millennium.During this time, Mordigael has seen things change within the Jericho Reach; the implications of the opening of the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate have affected everything. The launching of the Achilus Crusade concerns him greatly, as he sees the possibility of a greater disaster being created from a war prosecuted through ignorance and arrogance.He sees the encroaching threat of the Tyranids in much the same light, quite apart from the terrible danger they hold by themselves.On more than one occasion, the Master of the Vigil has had to remind Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus that the Deathwatch is not beholden to the needs of the crusade.
Moredakka - Moredakka: MoredakkaOrk WorldOrksDeathskullsMordaxForge WorldAdeptus Mechanicus13th Black CrusadeGreen KrusadeScarus Sector
Moredakka - History: When the Forces of Chaos launched the 13th Black Crusade, Abaddon the Despoiler recruited massed warbands of Orks to act as mercenary auxilias to his Chaos Traitor Legions. Following up on terror raids and cunning feints by the Night Lords and Alpha Legion many of the Orks banded together into ever-growing tribes that declared themselves as part of the "Green Krusade" (or "Green Kroosade" in other sources) in imitation of the grand assault of Chaos upon the Imperium in 999.M41. The Green Krusade inundated the Scarus Sector, battering down Imperial defences with a little help from Chaos Space Marines, particularly of the Night Lords and Black Legion.Now the Orks rule multiple worlds, including the weapon forges of Mordax, rechristened "Moredakka" by the Orks, whose weapon forges are infested with Lootas of the Deathskulls klan, a truly terrifying prospect to the devotees of the Machine God, who know full well the depths of blasphemy against the Omnissiah to which these barbaric xenos will sink.Battered survivors speak of hundreds of Gargants being built from the debris of war by enslaved Servitors and their brutal Greenskin overseers. The squat, menacing forms of more Gargant construction sites climb over the plains of Mordax daily as Ork Mekboyz race to be the first to complete their machines. Imperial strategists are now regarding the Green Krusade as a full-scale Ork WAAAGH!. Its Warlords are unknown but it would appear that Ghazghkull and Nazdreg are not among them.
Moredakka - Sources: Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (8th Edition), pp. 12-13 (Map)Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus - Skitarii (7th Edition), "Bastions of the Machine God," pg. 17 (Map)White Dwarf 287 (UK),"Eye of Terror Worldwide Campaign - Death By A Thousand Cuts," pg. 39
Moripatris - Moripatris: The Moripatris, known in Low Gothic as the "Mass of Doom," is the name of a ritual prayer uttered by the Chaplains of the Blood Angels and some of their Successor Chapters before a battle.When they discover that one of their Astartes has begun to succumb to the genetic curse of the Black Rage, the Chaplain will utter the Moripatris, which marks that Space Marine's formal induction into the Chapter's Death Company.
Moritat - Moritat: Moritat was an unofficial designation given to certain Space Marines of the ancient Legiones Astartes, who displayed suicidal urges and a blatant disregard for overall combat doctrine.Operating independently on the battlefield, these individuals were often employed as efficient shock assault troops and tactical assassins.From its earliest days, the Raven Guard Legion employed more Moritats than did many others.The individuals assigned to this duty were often those considered extreme in their methods even by the cold-blooded Xeric, the original Terran techno-barbarian tribesmen who had composed the XIXth Legion at the First Founding, and they were often used -- willingly -- to undertake missions from which they were not expected to return.This bygone rank no longer exists amongst the Adeptus Astartes of the 41st Millennium. But certain specialised Astartes formations such as the doomed battle-brothers of the Blood Angels' Death Company are akin to the bygone Moritat of old.
Moritat - History: The ancient designation known as a Moritat harkens back to the era of the Great Crusade during the late 30th Millennium. Amongst the Raven Guard and the Terran-born XIXth Legion that preceded them, there was a tendency amongst combat veterans placed in situations of extreme stress to forsake all pretence of self-preservation, fighting with a terrifying, silent determination and the sole aim of causing as many casualties and as much destruction as possible before succumbing to their foe.This strange blood-soaked ennui that drove many amongst the Raven Guard to sacrifice themselves in battle was known among the Terran members of the XIXth Legion as becoming "Ash Blind", while the later Raven Guard Astartes native to the world of Deliverance knew it as the "Sable Brand," a condition heralded by the darkening of the entire eye to black.Those warriors who survived their suicidal furies sometimes recovered, their brethren never mentioning the incident in a typically Raven Guard display of reticence, but more often these Astartes were evermore plagued in combat by the urge to slay until death took them, paying no heed to tactical plans.The XIXth Legion, in the days before its primarch Corvus Corax's return, made little attempt to organise the Ash Blind on the battlefield, relying on the flexible nature of their tactical doctrines to make the maximum use of their suicidal urges when they took hold.The Raven Lord later turned this aberrant effect of his gene-seed into a valuable weapon in his tactical arsenal, forming those afflicted by the Sable Brand into units of Shadow Killers and employing them as shock assault troops and assassins.It was the employment of such unconventional troop-types that allowed Corax to best his brother Roboute Guilliman in several of his brother-primarch's notoriously testing strategio-simulacra, an unexpected tactic that the lord of the Ultramarines had never faced before but was quick to adopt into the Legiones Astartes order of battle, creating the "Moritat" designation and role as it was later known amongst the rest of the Legions.
Moritat - Notable Moritat: Judiciar Aster Crohne - A veteran of the IXth Legion, having served in the days before the return of Sanguinius to his Legion, Aster Crohne was recruited on the killing fields of Saiph. Few of those raised from the debased tribes of Saiph survived the battles that regularly laid waste to their world, and of those none other are known to have survived as many massacres and slaughters as Aster Crohne. A relic of a time and tradition that Sanguinius oft-lamented, Aster found little favour among the elite of the newly named Blood Angels and instead lingered in the role of Judiciar. While the bloody, practical skills he perfected were the terror of the foe, his true talent had always been sheer bloody-minded tenacity and an instinct for survival that defies belief. Of all the officers attached to the Blood Angels 94th Company, only Aster emerged from the fires of Signus alive. While the finest of Terran and Baalite leaders were overcome by the Warp-fugue and rage that followed in the wake of the Angel's fall during the Signus Campaign, the only Saiphan recruit held to some semblance of sanity and led his brethren to glory. Despite this, "the Shroudmaker" remains an outcast among his peers, for those whose actions and weakness in the face of the foe still haunt them find his strength of will a keen reminder of their failings.Moritat-Prime Kaedes Nex - A dark figure of gruesome repute amongst the tightly knit survivors of Deliverance, Kaedes was seen as an ill-omen by his brothers. On Kiavahr in his youth he was known as the "Blood Crow," an infamous murderer condemned to rot on the prison moon that would become Deliverance. There he remained, until Corvus Corax offered him freedom and a pardon if he fought alongside the other rebels and limited his targets to those chosen by his new master. After enduring the painful late transformation to a Space Marine, it was only by the continued favour shown to him by Corax that he remained within the ranks of the Raven Guard, with few of his brothers willing to tolerate his macabre obsession with the hunt. Yet, in the grim shadow wars fought by the Raven Guard in furtherance of the Emperor's grand plan, his murder-honed skills were employed with grim regularity. When the Raven Guard came to Isstvan V, Kaedes came with them, vanishing into the wastes to stalk the Traitors on his own terms. Nothing is recorded of his role in either the retreat from the Drop Site Massacre or the days that followed, and some maintain that not all of the Traitor craft to later leave Isstvan V carried only the followers of Horus, and that Kaedes continued his private war in the shadows of the Horus Heresy amongst the ranks of his enemies.Munokhoi - Munokhoi, known in the White Scars Legion's broken Imperial Gothic tongue as "the Black Hound," Kharakhor, was a Moritat killer who served in the Brotherhood of the Sable Wolf. After the death of Ulkanor Khan during the Chondax Campaign, he took command, making it his personal mission to track down and destroy the Alpha Legion Headhunters.
Moritat - Notable Moritat Variations: Deathsworn Packs (Space Wolves) - The Deathsworn were the dark heart of the VIth Legion and theirs was a cause that was eventually to find its vent in the transfiguration of the flesh, but long before the first "Wulfen" emerged among the scions of Leman Russ, the descent into the depths of the beast and its predatory taint was found within the minds of those born of the Space Wolves' gene-seed. In every Legion it was said there were those for who the horrors of all they had witnessed and all the bloody deeds they had done in the name of the Great Crusade mutilated their soul and damaged their minds to such an extent that they were no longer men, no longer Space Marines in truth, but something hollow and murderous beyond reason. In some Legions, such things might go all but unnoticed, even perhaps mark one for advancement, while in others, the gift of final peace was offered, or perhaps outcast status as one of the so-called 'Moritats' or a place in the Destroyer units. But within the Space Wolves, such an all-consuming impulse to kill and kill again was better understood, and the ways of Fenris held the answer to such dark souls in the shape of the Cult of Morkai and its ministers, who ensured that those of the Death Wolf would be cast upon the enemies of Mankind with proper application of force. The warriors who gave themselves over to Morkai became known as the Deathsworn. Marked by wolf-skull helms, they were the embodiment of the spirit of death in the heart of the Space Wolves Legion.Judiciars (Blood Angels) - The Judiciars of the IXth Legion, like the Moritats of other Legions, brought terror and death to the enemy ahead of the main advance of the Legion. Sanguinius had long striven to change their role within his Legion, so that these warriors became agents of judgement, bringing his wrath to those he had chosen for death rather than spreading carnage freely.
Morkai - Morkai: Morkai, also called the "Deathwolf," is the wolf-god once worshipped by the people of the Death World of Fenris who is still a popular character in their myths and legends. The image and mythology of Morkai is also commonly used in many of the ceremonies and rituals of the Space Wolves Chapter.Morkai is said to possess two heads, which is why his sigil and all representations of him are always double-headed. Morkai is believed to be both the god of death and the guardian of the Gates of Death.In Fenrisian mythology Morkai is said to have many fell lieutenants, such as Blackmane, the "Howler of the Dead," a massive Fenrisian Wolf blessed with supernatural powers who is capable of raising the dead from their graves with his mournful calls.In legend, Morkai and all of his kin were defeated by the Primarch Leman Russ, the Wolf King, in Fenris' ancient past. In this myth, after his defeat by the primarch, Morkai became Russ' loyal, two-headed companion, and now he guards the lowest hall of the dead.
Morleo Moriar - Morleo Moriar: Morleo Moriar, also called Moriar the Chosen, was once an honoured captain of the Blood Angels Chapter who fell in battle. So great were his deeds that he was honoured by being entombed in a Furioso Dreadnought -- a walking cybernetic sarcophagus bristling with powerful weaponry.However, soon after being entombed within his new body, he experienced a vision of the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius during the Horus Heresy and succumbed to the Black Rage, thus becoming the Death Company's only Dreadnought -- an almost unstoppable force in battle.
Morleo Moriar - History: Morleo Moriar was once the captain of the Blood Angels 4th Company until he fell on the field of battle at Clamorga defending a ridge against the insidious Eldar. His mortal wounds proved too numerous and severe for even the skills of the Sanguinary Priests. As such, Moriar was interred within the adamantium sarcophagus of a mighty Furioso Dreadnought constructed by the master artificer of the Chapter, which had contained the Blood Angel heroes Belaphon, Dario and Amaretto before him.Upon awakening in his new, nigh-indestructible cybernetic body, Moriar was overcome by visions of Sanguinius' death during the Horus Heresy. Moriar's own near-death state triggered the curse of the Black Rage, an unusual occurrence in Blood Angels Dreadnoughts. Immortal now in his adamantium shell, Moriar managed to survive the ravages of the Black Rage, hungering for battle and death.He was then given the honour of continuing to serve the Emperor by being placed within the Chapter's infamous Death Company. As the sole Dreadnought to serve with this company of dead men walking, Moriar now fights completely without fear, as befits warriors certain of their own demise, and the furious willpower lent them by the Black Rage.With his Dreadnought body, Moriar has been rendered impervious to wounds that would kill a regular battle-brother. Some of the Blood Angels' greatest victories have followed in the wake of the furious assaults led by Moriar the Chosen and the Death Company.Yet despite the glories of Moriar's valorous deeds, a price must be paid, for in the fleeting calm of victory the mighty Dreadnought has sometimes also succumbed to the effects of the Red Thirst. To restrain him when not in battle the revered brothers of the Blood Angels Armoury have modified his armoured shell so that he may partake of the blood required to slake that awful genetic curse.Moriar is also known to have taken part in the Battle for Antax as part of the Blood Angels' Strike Force Aphael on the Forge World of Antax in 927.M41, being awakened at the height of the battle against the Ork WAAAGH! assaulting that world. Moriar proceeded to rip the Warboss Gutstompa and his escort of Nobz to shreds.
Morlocks - Morlocks: The Morlocks were the Veteran Space Marine battle-brothers of the Iron Hands Legion who served as Primarch Ferrus Manus' personal Honour Guard.These elite Veterans of the Iron Hands' 1st Company were so-named for the fearsome visage they presented like the vengeful predators of the same name that howled across the frozen tundras of their Legion homeworld of Medusa.The Morlocks were all members of the Iron Hands' Clan Company Avernii. The Morlocks were the deadliest and most experienced warriors of the Xth Legion, and whatever force was arrayed against these black Terminators could not hope to survive their wrath.The Morlocks were always the bloody tip of the spear that drove hard into the vitals of the Xth Legion's foes.
Morlocks - Sources: Horus Heresy: Collected VisionsFulgrim (Novel) by Graham McNeill, pp. 97, 300-301, 303, 314, 338, 369-370, 373, 375, 380, 383, 385-388, 392, 400The Primarchs (Anthology), " “Feat of Iron,” by Nick Kyme pp. 60, 64-65, 67-70, 76, 80, 83-85, 87, 94, 105Angel Exterminatus (Novel) by Graham McNeill, pp. 60, 83-84, 86-88, 101-104, 108, 113-115, 136-137, 142-143, 158-159, 162-168, 172, 174, 212, 216-217, 222, 271, 282
Morr - Morr: Morr was a powerful and loyal Incubus who faithfully served the Drukhari Kabal of the Realm Eternal for many generations, upholding the Silent Brotherhood's oaths to the aging Archon Kraillach.An imposing and ruthless warrior, Morr efficiently carried out his archon's orders without question. In the late 41st Millennium, Kraillach conspired with Archons Nyos Yllithian of the Kabal of the White Flames and Xelian of the Blades of Desire to overthrow the tyrannical rule of Asdrubael Vect.To achieve their ends, the Realm Eternal aided Nyos' mission to resurrect the infamous El'uriaq, the legendary tyrant ruler of the shadowy-realm of Shaa-Dom. It was Morr who led the operation planned by Archon Yllithian to steal a pure Exodite Aeldari to torture, in order to use her soul to bring about the resurrection of El'Uriaq.Following the success of this operation and the resurrection of the long-dead archon, Morr's master became increasingly paranoid and weak following a battle with Archon Xelian, forcing Morr to assume much of the day-to-day operations of the Kabal.Eventually, the loyal Incubus was forced to turn on his master when he discovered that El'Uriaq had somehow corrupted Kraillach, possessing his body with a Daemon.Striking down the Archon, he freed his master from the daemon's grasp. Having broken his oaths of the Silent Brotherhood following this act, Morr quickly vanished, pursued by the outcast Harlequin Motley.
Morst Bolifax - Morst Bolifax: Morst Bolifax is a cardinal of the Adeptus Ministorum who also served as the planetary governor of the Cardinal World of Benediction in the Talledus System of the Veritus Sub-sector and as the sector lord of the sub-sector itself.Bolifax was known to be a brutal traditionalist of the Imperial Creed. He ruled the system and the sub-sector with an iron hand. Suspicious of the deviations of the Imperial faith that had developed in his domain, Bolifax initiated a series of purges to remove subversive figures who dared to deviate from the unequivocal truth of the Imperial Creed as he saw it.He sent his most fervent missionaries forth to cleanse these impurities. Shrines and shantytowns were burned, deviant tomes and scriptures seized, and more than ten thousand apostates were crucified or stoned to death for their heathen practices. A dozen sub-cults of the Imperial Creed were condemned as heretical by the cardinal's decree. Anyone found practising their proscribed beliefs or rituals was to be subject to immediate torture and execution.What remained of these sects were then infiltrated by charismatic orators and zealous iconoclasts in thrall to the Dark Gods, and directed by the masters of the Word Bearers. At first these figureheads preached the supremacy of the God-Emperor. They railed against the tyrannical rule of the Ministorum priests and the purges and executions they had inflicted upon innocent souls for a simple divergence of belief. Stirring up popular anger and a simmering resentment against the cruel Cardinal Bolifax, they compared his excesses to those of the infamous Goge Vandire during the Reign of Blood.The brutality of Bolifax's crackdown was the perfect gift for the cultist demagogues of the Veritus Sub-sector. By playing upon the climate of fear and hatred, it was almost too easy for them to indoctrinate new followers in the worship of the Chaos God pantheon, and an ever-growing number of disenchanted pilgrims were driven into their clutches. Patiently, they sowed the seeds of true heresy, hiding the nature of their foul beliefs behind metaphor and rhetoric.When the Word Bearers led the forces of Chaos in the assault on the Talledus System during what became known as the Talledus War, Cardinal Bolifax was granted formal command of the Imperial defence as the Imperial Commander, but had no real role in making the day-to-day strategic decisions of the Imperial forces involved in the conflict.
Mortar - Mortar: A Mortar is a muzzle-loaded, indirect-fire ballistic weapon whose origins go back to well before any other weapons currently in use by the Imperium of Man.It is deployed by the forces of the Astra Militarum, and it is popular for its simplicity of construction and maintenance compared to more sophisticated weapons. The Mortar has the ability to bombard enemy positions from behind cover. As such, the vulnerability of the Imperial Guardsmen firing the weapon is reduced and they often survive longer, another reason for the weapon's popularity.Although it possesses indirect fire capabilities, the Mortar is not exceptionally potent against better-armoured heavy infantry troops like Chaos Space Marines -- and has even less effectiveness against armoured vehicles. The Mortar is primarily used as an anti-infantry weapon, and to provide counterbattery fire against enemy mortar teams.To deal with more powerful or heavily armoured targets, artillery such as the Quad Launcher and the Heavy Mortar are preferred.
Mortar - Notable Mortars: Mark IX Accatran Pattern Mortar - Often deployed by the regiments of the Elysian Drop Troops to provide anti-infantry fire support, this automatic mortar is fed by a revolving five-round drum magazine capable of sustaining a high rate of fire. It is outfitted with carrying handles that allow it to be moved by two Guardsmen, but once it is set up it can be activated remotely through the use of a short-range, remote control unit. The remote has a range of approximately 100 metres, and can be set to order the mortar to fire its shells singly or in bursts of five in rapid succession. This allows the user to act as their own spotter and concentrate tremendous amounts of firepower on a single spot.Marbo's Mortar - Marbo's Mortar is a powerful mortar employed by the regiments of the Catachan Jungle Fighters. Because of the weapon's ability to utterly obliterate the enemy, it was named after Catachan's most famous Astra Militarum soldier, Sly Marbo, the "One Man Army."
Mortar - Sources: Codex: Imperial Guard (2nd Edition), pg. 22The Imperial Munitorum Manual, pg. 70Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 69Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project, pg. 137Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pg. 97Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pg. 93Only War: Hammer of the Emperor (RPG), pg. 114Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium (Defunct MMO)
Mortarion - Childhood: When the twenty primarchs of the Space Marine Legions were scattered across the galaxy in a mysterious accident, one came to rest on the planet Barbarus, a world wreathed in poisonous fog where the most advanced technology was that of steam power.The pre-industrial population of the world was split into two groups: the controlling warlords; inhuman necromancers with fantastic Warp-derived powers, and the Human settlers, who had been trapped on the planet millennia before and were now forced to eke out an existence essentially as farmers in the poison-free valleys of the planet, fearing the wrath of the necromantic Overlords and their foul creations.The primarch-child was taken in by the most powerful of the Overlords, who found him amongst the corpses of a battlefield where he had been engaged in one of the endless conflicts he fought with the other Overlords. The infant primarch was screaming and wailing where a normal child would have suffocated and died long before.The High Overlord, Necare of Barbarus, took the child in with the intention of creating a son and heir, naming him Mortarion -- "child of death" in the local Barbaran dialect of High Gothic.Mortarion was kept by the High Overlord in a small tower positioned at the limit of even his superhuman tolerance to the toxins in the air, while Necare moved his own fortress to the highest peak of the world, beyond where even Mortarion could go.He trained the child, who had a highly keen intellect and voracious appetite for knowledge; Mortarion learned everything from battle doctrine, to arcane secrets, from artifice to stratagem.However, the young primarch's questions began to turn towards subjects the Overlord did not want to talk about, namely the pitiful creatures in the valleys that the many warlords preyed upon for corpses to reanimate and bodies to warp.
Mortarion - Deliverance of Barbarus: Finally, knowing he would be unable to find the answers he desired from his adoptive father, Mortarion broke out of the fortress that had been his home and prison after killing several guards stationed at the gates of the fortress, and headed for the valleys of Barbarus. Breaking through the poisonous mists, Mortarion discovered that the prey of the warlords were in fact the same species as he, and swore to deliver them from their oppression.The people of Barbarus were slow to accept this pale, gaunt stranger from the mountains, but Mortarion was given a chance to prove his worth when creatures enthralled to another warlord attacked the village. Seeing that the peasants were unable to effectively fight back, Mortarion joined the fray, wielding a massive harvesting scythe that made short work of the beasts. The warlord smiled when Mortarion advanced upon him and withdrew to the apparent safety of the deadly fog, only to be pursued and butchered by this inhumanly resilient Primarch.Accepted into the village without further reservation, Mortarion began to train the villagers in the art of warfare. Soon, representatives from other villages journeyed to learn from Mortarion, while the villages scattered across the valleys of the world were transformed into strongpoints. Mortarion travelled from settlement to settlement, teaching, building and defending his people.He recruited the toughest, most resilient men he could find, forming them into small units that trained under his supervision. He enlisted the aid of blacksmiths, craftsmen and artificers to create suits of armour that would allow men to travel through the poisonous fog. As each battle in the mists was fought, Mortarion and his Death Guard would learn how to better adapt the armour, and themselves, to reach the more poisonous heights. Eventually, only one peak denied them access, the one on which Mortarion's adoptive father had made his home.
Mortarion - Coming of the Emperor: Despite his adoptive father being a ruthless necromancer, Mortarion felt reluctant to attack the man who took him in and called off the planned attack on the advice of Calas Typhon, who warned that he was not yet ready to face the High Overlord even with the new suits of armour. Returning to the village, Mortarion's mood darkened when he found his people talking not of his victory but of the arrival of a benevolent stranger who promised salvation to the people of Barbarus.Finding this stranger in conference with the village elders, Mortarion claimed that his people needed no outside help. The stranger commented that even Mortarion and his Death Guard were having trouble pacifying the final warlord, and offered a challenge. If Mortarion could defeat the High Overlord Necare, the stranger would leave. If not, Mortarion had to swear fealty to the stranger and the Imperium of Man he represented.Ignoring the protests of his Death Guard, Mortarion left alone to confront his adoptive father, motivated by a compulsion to prove himself to the stranger below. The confrontation was brief. The air surrounding the High Overlord's fortress was so poisonous and toxic that parts of Mortarion's armour began to rot away.He collapsed at the gates of the Overlord's citadel, bellowing challenges to Necare. The final thing Mortarion saw before he almost blacked out into unconsciousness was the Overlord of Barbarus coming to kill him and mocking him for his weakness and failure. At the same time, he heard a voice that was not his own within his head, seeking to make contact and impart what it called the true lesson about how to defeat death.Mortarion did not know it, but this voice was that of the Chaos God Nurgle, who had already chosen Mortarion to become his greatest mortal champion. But it was then, at the final moment before the High Overlord at last took the life of his wayward foster son, that the stranger suddenly appeared, leaping between the two and slaying Necare with a single thrust of his flaming sword.When he recovered, Mortarion swore fealty to the stranger as he had promised, who revealed himself to be Mortarion's true gene-father, the Emperor of Mankind. The Emperor granted Mortarion command of the XIV Space Marine Legion, then known as the Dusk Raiders, who quickly adopted the name, iconography and dogma of Mortarion's Death Guard. However, the Emperor's slaying of the Primarch's adoptive father -- the Emperor's denial of his final vengeance, of the proof that he was worthy -- became a grudge Mortarion forever after held against Him. It would coil within his heart like a rancid viper, and provide the seed of weakness that the Plague God Nurgle would later exploit.
Mortarion - A Mournful Unity: True to his oath, Mortarion bent his knee to his new-found father as soon as he was sufficiently recovered to do so, although his final act of defiance on Barbarus would leave scars upon him both physical and mental that would never fully heal. A skilled warlord in his own right, Mortarion was immediately given command of the XIV Legion of Astartes which carried his genetic inheritance, and did so on his own terms.Gathering them before him, a grim and spectral figure robed and bearing the great black scythe that had once belonged to his nightmarish foster-father, it must have seemed to the Terran-born Dusk Raiders that an ancient, graven image of the Grim Reaper had come before them as their new master. His words were simple and delivered in a harsh whisper that never the less carried to each and every one: "You are my unbroken blades. You are the Death Guard. By your hand shall justice be delivered, and doom shall stalk a thousand worlds."The Legion's name was then changed in accordance with this decree, and Mortarion's words were engraved above the airlock door of the Battle Barge Reaper's Scythe in honour of that moment. By this simple decree the Dusk Raiders were no more, and the records and annals from that day forward would carry this new name as one to strike fear into the hearts of Mankind's enemies.The XIV Legion's Astartes had been primarily Terran-born before Mortarion joined the Legion; after that time almost all of the Legion's Neophytes were drawn from the Feral World of Barbarus. This changed the culture and traditions of the Legion, so much so that by the last days of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium, there were increasing tensions between the Barbarus-born Astartes and the Terran minority who remained in the Legion and who remembered the Dusk Raiders' earlier martial traditions brought out of Old Terra.These tensions became most clear in the period directly preceding the first battle of the Horus Heresy at Istvaan III, when approximately one-third of the Legion was judged by Mortarion to be likely to remain loyal to the Emperor when the Legion joined the Warmaster Horus in his rebellion against the Imperium. Many of these Loyalist Death Guard Astartes were Terran-born, former Dusk Raiders like Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro of the 7th Great Company whose loyalty to the Emperor outweighed their devotion to their Primarch.
Mortarion - Great Crusade: In the solar decades that followed the renamed XIV Legion fought tirelessly in the service of the Great Crusade. Never relenting in battle beneath their Primarch's gaze, they pursued the liberation of Mankind with a fervour the Great Crusade had never known. Their restless fleet ploughed the cold void from one campaign to the next, resupplying on the move, never pausing but to make war. The Death Guard did not garrison, they did not build, they only tore down and slew, coldly, determinately and with the inexorable progress of a contagion or a tsunami wave, and worlds fell before them.Over time Mortarion shaped the creed and practice of the Death Guard, his beliefs in many ways forming a natural extension of their own, beliefs and doctrine becoming ever more refined and extreme. At the heart of them was the unshakeable determination that Mankind should be free of oppression and terror.Such freedom could only be won in the Primarch's mind by destroying those that would shackle and devour humanity. This was a war to be fought without mercy or limit, without restraint or relenting. The battle for the human future was one that could only be won by enduring any hardship, no matter how terrible, and not shirking from any act, no matter how savage in pursuit of victory. This single end, the liberation of humanity to Mortarion's creed, justified any means.Mortarion believed that victory in battle came through sheer resilience, and Horus, who used the strengths and weaknesses of the different legions to create the most efficient fighting force possible, used his legion in co-ordination with Mortarion's frequently. Mortarion and the Death Guard would draw out the enemy and tire them down, and then the Luna Wolves would strike. This combat tactic worked brilliantly, and Mortarion grew close to Horus.Mortarion was a grim and driven Primarch, his breathing apparatus and scythe an inseparable component of his aspect. The pallid, hairless Primarch was viewed by others as a freak, and was distant from all his brother Primarchs save Horus the Warmaster and Konrad Curze the Night Haunter, the leader of the Night Lords Legion. Some Primarchs, such as Roboute Guilliman, feared that Mortarion was more loyal to Horus than he was to the Emperor; however, at that time, the Emperor claimed that loyalty to Horus was de facto loyalty to Himself. Events would prove the Emperor sorely mistaken.
Mortarion - Council of Nikaea: Mortarion was present at the Council of Nikaea, where he spoke out against his brother, the Primarch Magnus the Red. Having witnessed during his youth on Barbarus the horrors produced by psykers and sorcery, he testified passionately against them, ending his plea with a dire warning against any use of sorcery by the servants of the Emperor.Unlike the other speakers at Nikaea who stood against the use of psychic powers and who mostly harangued Magnus and reviled the Thousand Sons but brought little proof or argument to the debate, Mortarion's intervention was short, impersonal and to the point.It therefore made a great impact upon the opinion of the Emperor, and drove Magnus to defend the use of psychic abilities with more drive and passion than he had originally intended.Mortarion was pleased when the Emperor ruled that sorcery was to be forbidden and even the Space Marine Legions' Librarius divisions would be disbanded, the Librarians returned to the ranks of the line Astartes and sworn to never use their powers again.
Mortarion - Horus Heresy: When the Warmaster Horus turned to Chaos, it did not require much effort to drag Mortarion and his Legion down with him. Horus had been one of the few primarchs with whom Mortarion had felt comfortable, and as such he showed more loyalty to the Warmaster during the Great Crusade than to the Emperor Himself.In truth, Mortarion had never forgiven the Emperor for denying him the chance to earn his final vengeance against Necare. Horus, a master manipulator who knew what was in his brother's heart, revealed to Mortarion that he knew that the Emperor had dealt with the powers of the Warp to gain the knowledge needed to create the Primarchs.Already deeply angry with his father, it did not take much for Horus to push the idea upon his brother that the Emperor was in truth a sorcerer not much different from the High Overlord Necare on Barbarus, Mortarion's hated adoptive father. Horus promised that if Mortarion joined his cause and supported his rebellion they would cleanse the Imperium of the Emperor's taint, and build a new regime free of their gene-father's lies, manipulations and deceit.In addition to this, the Death Guard's First Captain Calas Typhon, Mortarion's second-in-command, had long been a secret follower of the Ruinous Powers and eagerly manipulated the rest of the Death Guard into treading the path of damnation.Mortarion revealed his true colours during the scouring of Istvaan III, when he willingly sent potentially Loyalist elements of the Death Guard into Horus' trap. Once the Astartes who remained loyal to the Emperor were purged, the Death Guard then fought alongside their Traitor brethren during the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V.
Mortarion - Post-Heresy: Within the Eye of Terror, Mortarion was elevated to become a Daemon Prince by Nurgle, and given control of a Daemon World, now known as the Plague Planet, which he moulded into a new and despicable form, making it a virtual copy of Barbarus, placing himself in his adoptive father's position as its chief tyrant.To this day, Mortarion's Death Guard launch their assaults through the Cadian Gate and into the galaxy beyond, sometimes in large bodies and at others lending strength to allied forces. Wherever they travel they spread the joyful, exuberant poxes of Nurgle, gifting those who would know eternal life with the choicest of the Plague God's blessings.Typhon, now called Typhus the Traveller, took a more active role in continuing the war against the Imperium by abandoning his master and striking out on his own, bringing the "gifts" of his patron to the Emperor's followers. Typhus was especially active during the 13th Black Crusade, securing his own plague-ridden stronghold by the end of that conflict.In an ironic twist of fate, Mortarion has become exactly like the Overlords of Barbarus he vowed to kill ten thousand years ago. He sat for millennia in a Plague Fortress atop a tall mountain surrounded by toxic clouds, just like the adoptive father he despised in centuries long since forgotten.