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Mortarion

2016-08-13T23:07:39Z

2602:304:CE19:5A10:7C5C:2793:5FFB:65CE:

[[File:Mortarion Portrait.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Mortarion, the Death Lord. Is in serious need of some chapstick.]]

''"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster . . . for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."''<br>
— Friedrich Nietzsche

''"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."''<br>
— The Bhagavad-Gita

Also known as "Death Lord", Mortarion, [[Primarch]] of the [[Death Guard]] (XIV legion), now [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Has an absolute hatred of psykers, a staunch believer of the Darwinistic principal, aaaand... That's basically it.

==Biography==
Mortarion was left on the plague planet [[Barbarus]] by the [[Chaos]] gods. He was found by the Overlord of Barbarus, who may or may not have been a [[Daemon]] or may have been a sorcerer of Nurgle, but whatever he was, he was a something that was less human than Mortarion. The Overlord, naming him Mortarion (to mean "Child of Death") took the infant Primarch and raised him, teaching him the arts of combat and warfare, after caging the child on a mountain top to acclimatize to the poisonous atmosphere. Mortarion's curiosity led him to leave home and set up shop in one of the human villages in a less plague-filled valley, where he simply helped with the harvest. When the village was attacked by a marauding warlord, Mortarion charged into the fray, defending his home with his scythe. After the battle was won, Mortarion taught the villagers, and other humans on Barbarus, the same lessons of warfare he had learned from his adoptive father. Soon, they were strong enough to take the fight to the warlords of Barbarus until only the Overlord remained. The Emperor showed up in a modest robe, as he feels like doing sometimes, and challenged Mortarion to slay the Overlord alone or swear loyalty to him.

Mortarion wasted no more time and went to kill his adoptive father, but he was too weak and succumbed to the poisonous upper atmosphere. Cue [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] time and one hit kill. The Emperor stole Mortarion's kill and evil adoptive father (Mortarion resented both).

===Great Crusade===
He was discovered 130 years into the Great Crusade and was taken to Terra, like all his other brothers were, to learn the ways of the Imperium. But unusually he was held for a bit longer on Terra than his brothers were on the reasoning that they were going to get all of the poisons and toxins out of his system, though this would obviously hit a snag since he got his armour customised to supply him with the Barbarus gases on demand ''(maybe he was dependent on them?)'', naturally all this waiting around got him a bit frustrated and annoyed.

Mortarion managed to sneak his way through the Imperial Palace and to the construction site of the future [[Golden Throne]] ''(yeah, despite being all giant and pungent, he was an excellent [[Ninja]], also evidenced by his rules below)'' When he demanded of [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] what it was, he wouldn't accept the regent's excuses that it was nothing to concern himself over, since Mortarion knew [[Heresy|warp-tech]] when he saw it, and considered the Emperor & Malcador big giant hypocrites. The same went for his three brothers who set up the Librarius, and he didn't get on that well with the others. Apart from maybe the Khan, Mortarion had the least central role in the Crusade of all the Primarchs.

Thus Malcador revealed to Mortarion the Emperor's greater plan; which was to remove the reliance on psykers and warp travel entirely, and that they were already planning the [[Librarian|Council of Nikaea]] in advance and that Mortarion would be the one to make the case for reining it in.

Mortarion gets his own legion and swears allegiance to the big E. Weirdly, for all his dad and Malcador's worries about him, they didn't see fit to keep him fighting alongside the Emperor like (clearly sane and well-adjusted) Vulkan. After a few years of raping and pillaging those filthy Xenos he becomes best buds with [[Horus]] and that [[Konrad Curze|creepy pseudo-batman]]. He wasn't that bad of a guy, but he resented pretty much everyone whose upbringing hadn't been as awful as his, except Horus. There's a bit in Scars where he bitches and moans at Sanguinius, Jaghatai and Fulgrim about how they had it easy before snapping at the Khan that he ''doesn't resent it''. Hmm. The newly renamed Death Guard was moulded to resemble Mortarion's old army on Babarus, as it began prioritising endurance over everything else. In combat Mortarion relied on his raw strength, which according to Jaghatai Khan, only Ferrus Manus had a hope of matching. In a primarch-on-primarch duel he just absorbed damage, tiring his opponent out.

===Horus Heresy===
When the [[Horus Heresy]] began, of all his traitor brothers, we don't quite yet know "why" Mortarion joined the Traitor since there haven't been many books with him as the protagonist. But it was presumably for [[Perturabo|ideological reasons]] rather than being outright [[Fulgrim|corrupted]], [[Angron|broken]] or [[Konrad Curze|renegade already]] since we know he already considered the [[Emperor]] and the [[Imperial Truth]] to be hypocritical. He also felt that the whole goal of the Imperium was the wrong one- viewing non-combatants as unworthy, and hating the influence that civilians began to wield post-Ullanor. Horus' rebellion promised an order based on Might Is Right, and if the Warmaster died in the process of overthrowing the Emprah, then Mortarion might get a shot at the top job. So was probably like "Yeah I won't worship Chaos, but I'll follow you anyway!" with Horus. Then again, a flashback with Malcador tells us that Mortarion might've had mental scars just as big as Curze's and Angron's, between the jail-keeper relationship with his adoptive dad, wanting to kill said foster parent, failing and watching his real dad kill said evil dad and finally finding out that his real dad was also a psyker (basically everything that Mortarion hated).

If he was telling Jaghatai the truth, in Horus he saw a leader who could give the strong freedom to dominate the galaxy, driving out the weak and impure. At the same time, Horus might not keep the throne once he got it; there would be "room to rise" when the war was over.

However, that wasn't as easy as he thought, especially when he saw just how many despised psykers, witches, and sorcerers were running around all over the place. As a last-ditch attempt to change the balance, he tried to recruit [[Jaghatai Khan]] on [[Prospero]], using the Warrior Lodges to subvert the [[White Scars]]. Being an architect of the [[Librarian|Librarius]] and a generally cool guy, the Khan told Mortarion he was an idiot and went to town on the Death Lord. Mortarion gave Jaghatai the fight of his life, but eventually ran away to take his butthurt out on the rest of the Prosperine system, all the while brooding over the Khan's taunts. He'd thrown his lot in with the thing he hated the most and now that he'd run out of allies, it was going to claim him. Scars kinda retcons the start of Mortarion's descent here- the Khan thinks that Mortarion's "power" has grown (probably psychically) and that the guy's face looks discoloured around his rebreather. Despite this, he still insisted on claiming he was the only "pure" Primarch.

Just after getting into that scrap with the Khan, he travelled to a library world that once belonged to the [[Thousand Sons]] and set about [[Exterminatus|purging it]] to find a particular person possessed by a daemon. This would prove a turning point, as he kept the daemon in order to [[Inquisition|extract knowledge on how to defeat daemons]], but ended up getting goaded into using sorcerous powers to blast the creature into a mushy pulp and declaring that he would learn all he could about his [[Daemon|enemy]] in order to learn how to [[Fail|better eradicate it]]. Which the daemon had forseen as the beginning of Mortarion's descent into [[Fifteen views of Asscrack|Nurgle's Pocket]]. The retcon continues here, as Mortarion's claims to "purity" are mocked to his face and we're told that a Chaos God has already staked a claim on him. It's also pretty clear that Mortarion's close to going nuts even before this push, as his quarters are littered with Scientific Anti-Warp Devices (shit tons of charms, incantations and numerical codes which do hurt Daemons... once he starts using the Warp). Oh yeah, and he makes speeches about how destroying worlds is good for the soul.

When his big ol' fleet was pimping their way to Terra, they were caught in a Warp Storm, where they had to suffer diseases which would kill anyone else. The Death Guard's legendary endurance turned against them, holding them just on the edge of death, suffering so hard that it makes a [[Dark Eldar]] torture feel like massage (no, really). Well, what would be the best way to stop the disease? [[Derp|Start the worship of the God of the Diseases, of course!]] To be fair, Typhon was already doing that- in fact, he was the one who arranged them to be caught in the warp storm in the first place. [[Nurgle]] was pleased as the Death Guard swore loyalty to him, and ended their suffering (but made them walking sacks of meat that simply won't die, our beloved [[Plague Marines]]). Mortarion instead became a bundle of bones and rusted armour; a true Death Lord.

This act of "swearing loyalty" takes on a different context when you realize that Mortarion utterly despised the Ruinous Powers (even if he may have been getting some assistance from them towards the end of the Heresy, if the events of <i>Scars</i> are to be believed) and only submitted to Nurgle because he physically couldn't suffer any longer or watch his sons do the same. Certain fluff sources literally state that as Mortarion lay in agony he pictured himself once again defeated atop his daemon-father's lair, too weak to fight on in the face of certain death, only this time he knew the Emperor wasn't going to save him from his fate (when you consider the importance he placed on strength and the refusal to surrender, this becomes an even bigger nightmare). And so, after a lifetime of striving to become the most grim, unstoppable motherfucker in the galaxy he crumbled when the stakes were highest, and lost his soul to Chaos, becoming everything he hated most. Grimdark.

===Post Heresy===
[[File:Mortarion,_Prince_of_Decay.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Seriously, Morty was playing Ol'Grimmy before the [[C'tan|Nightbringer]] was ever thought up! So much for originality [[GW]].]]

After Horus got his ass kicked, Mortarion made epic formations, and marched his ships (yes, marched them!) to the Eye of Terror, where they found a nice new home, known as Plague Planet, which they started decorating and uhh... "cleaning".

Long story short, him and his legion now worship [[Nurgle]] and owns his personal little planet in the [[Eye of Terror]] from which all disease and plagues in the galaxy originate. Of note, he is now a [[Daemon Prince]], so don't piss him off. He should probably work out more so as to get back into shape, but the fact that he just has to be within a few kilometers for you to die from the toxic emanations sort of renders that superfluous. Still, Typhus got bored with his dad pretty quickly, and decided to go off on a great big Getting Shit Done expedition.

The whole enslavement and broken-by-plague thing has probably hurt Mortarion's motivation a little bit. Whereas Fulgrim, Angron and Magnus all get to have some fun with their Chaos abilities, Mortarion is just stuck in a mess of self-hatred. He's basically ended up like his adoptive father, punishing all his subjects for being too weak to rebel against him- by proxy, punishing himself for his own weakness.

To his credit, he did make himself useful in the Fall of Sanctia in 437.M36 by sending an army of diseased [[Orks]] to soften the planet up, then made their corpses explode into a massive horde of Nurglings when he and the Death Guard landed, wiping out all life in less than a day. (Thanks, [[Phil Kelly|Phil]]!) It's also emerged that he helped Typhus concoct the Plague of Unbelief, which helped raise the curtain on Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. Now if only some [[Lorgar|other]] [[Fulgrim|assholes]] would do some work every now and then...

===The Draigo Incident===

Tl;dr: he got his ass handed to him by [[Kaldor Draigo]] who carved the name of the previous SUPREME GRAND MASTER, Geronitan, into Mortarion's heart.

The Longer story as told by the Audio Drama ''Mortarion's Heart'', Geronitan more or less baited Mortarion and allowed whole sectors to die under the Primarch's massive force (every Nurgle cult and warband within 100 sectors) until he showed up at Kornovin, which is one of the few places the Grey Knights can preform the ritual to bind his soul and kill him for good. It failed due to the fact Geronitan forgot to Wear a helmet so Mortarion just Plague Wind him to death and laughed as the entire Grey Knights Chapter cried (yes this happened.)

After Kaldor got elected, mostly because he's the most expendable Grand Master who's also skilled enough to fight the Death Lord. Grand Master Crom gave Kaldor the true weapon, the name The Emperor gave to Mortarion.

After a laughably short and one sided fight, which was really just Mortarion punching Kaldor in the face over and over again, Kaldor was able to light Mortarion's cape on fire when Mortarion eventually got a hand cramp. Mortarion pauses for a second because that was his VERY favorite cape and becomes distracted enough to allow Kaldor to slip Mortarion's true name into the Death Lord's mind, which causes him to FUCKING EXPLODE somehow, regardless of the fact that in every other instance of true names ever the worst that can happen is your combat stats getting halved. Though it might be because in this case the name itself originated from the Emperor, and anything that has to do with the Big-E will mess up anything Daemonic big time. Kaldor then crawls over to a helpless, nearly broken in half Mortarion and writes Geronitan's name on Mortarion's heart in magic marker.

Just more of the usual stupid Grey Knight circle jerk stuff.

As the 13th Black Crusade grinds on, rumours abound that Abbadon has finally persuaded Nurgle to set Mortarion's alarm clock and got him moving again and '''killing Imperial scum!'''
His fans resent the implication that he's a lazy old fuck, because even though he isn't as active as [[Angron]], he still gets waaaaay more shit done than people like [[Lorgar]] or [[Perturabo]].

----

==Tabletop==
[[File:FW_Mortarion.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Here's his mini teaching all of us how to properly wield a scythe.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

Mortarion is a tough son of a bitch: with the Primarch rule, T/W 7, flat dice wounds like poisoned and fleshbane wound on 6's, rerollable IWND and Toughness tests, 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, he's basically a Gargantuan Creature for all intents and purposes. He negates Maledictions affecting him or his unit on a 4+, ''(which isn't a Deny the Witch, so Adamantium Will doesn't help and you get his 5+ DtW after, though it works out to being exactly the same as nullifying them on a 3+ anyway)'', Death Guard gain Stubborn and Poisoned (4+) on all frag grenades and missiles which is pretty sickening. For weapons he has the Lantern pistol which is almost a pistol meltagun, phosfex bombs (an unlimited supply of them, and he can throw them at double the range!), frag grenades and Silencer, a S7 AP 2 no longer unwieldy power scythe with sweep attacks that causes Instant Death and reroll failed penetration rolls. Great for getting rid of that annoying Praetor or captain. Notable he's also one of the only characters in fiction who knows how the hell you're supposed to hold a scythe!.

Not enough for you? Good, because they also gave him the Shadow Of The Reaper rule. It makes enemy units take a fear check at -1 leadership. By itself in normal 40k rules, it's situationally great, making it pretty mediocre on the whole, but in the pre-ATSKNF 30k setting, it's much more useful. But much more importantly, it gives him a special move in the shooting phase: if Mortarion isn't locked in combat or embarked and doesn't shoot or run, he can take a leadership test and teleport 10 inches away from his current position. It does not count as moving, does not scatter, and does not prevent him from charging (But he does count as making a disordered charge. Not that big of a problem, seriously). There are some other caveats, but he effectively has a minimum 18" charge range without factoring in his base size, and he is fleet to boot. [[Awesome|Because he's fucking terrifying.]]

His model is equally as badass as his rules, if you can get past that he doesn't have a rebreather. Although the designer probably thought that he didn't really need to breathe, and he's probably immune to anything poisonous anyway (on Prospero the Khan had to go in totally suited up, whereas the Death Lord just strolled in dressed just the same as normal, and Girlyman established that Primarchs can breathe in an incredibly thin atmosphere - he can apparently fight in near-vacuum for hours on end without a helmet, because [[Heresy|fuck physics]]). (Even in-universe, Guilliman's ability to fight in the void without a helmet and little oxygen has Imperial scholars going "WTF?")

==Mortarion VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (especially with Mortarion who can mathematically always go the entire game in a Primarch duel), with that in mind this section is how Mortarion fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never changes the outcome of the fights, the winner is still the winner with or without it) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Mortarion VS Horus
**Horus will use Worldbreaker (as wounding on 2's is better than re-rolling to wound) and hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.332 times, 1.666 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight.

* Mortarion VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will instead hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion just barely loses this fight by one turn as his extra wound almost allows him to outlast Angron.

* Mortarion VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 2.666 times (Fireblade)/1.777 times (Laer Blade), 1.333 times (Fireblade)/0.888 times (Laer Blade) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight either by a little or a lot depending on whether or not Fulgrim has Fireblade or not.

* Mortarion VS Ferrus
**Ferrus with Forgebreaker: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1.666 times with Forgebreaker and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.999 total), 0.999 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus with Bare Hands: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1 time with his hands and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.333 total), 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 times at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and damage.

* Mortarion VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins as even though he does less damage he'll outlast Curze.

* Mortarion VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion loses as mathematically he's incapable of harming Vulkan.

* Mortarion VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Mortarion to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Mortarion still beats Lorgar. He also loses to invisible Lorgar Transfigured just like every other Primarch (mathematically he causes 0 wounds to him).

*Mortarion VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.333 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.666 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and 0.222 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins but only if Perturabo doesn't bring Forgebreaker.

* Mortarion VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.568 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.0124 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins

* Mortarion VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.48 times (normal)/1.183 times (Sundering Blow), 0.74/0.59 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0.035 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins in 12 turns as Dorn does a lot less damage in return.

* Mortarion VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
**Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
**Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

* Mortarion VS Roboute Guilliman
**Round 1: Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (With Hand of Dominion), 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Round 2 and after: Guilliman hits 3.333 times (Thanks to Preternatura Strategy), wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.417 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND they become 0.083 wounds.
**Guilliman wins in 8 turns as Mortarion's damage is almost irrelevant.

* TLDR version: Mortarion's good against Konrad Curze, Vanilla Lorgar, Hammerless Perturabo, Alpharius, Rogal Dorn, Corvus Corax and bad against Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Lorgar Transfigured, Vulkan, Perturabo with Hammer and Guilliman, putting him quite in the middle of the road for Primarch duelling.

* Dirty Trick: Use Morturg and put Endurance on Mortarion, if you do this Mortarion can beat everyone (including Lorgar Transfigured) except Horus, Fulgrim (with Fireblade) and Vulkan as his damage output will exceed theirs or his extra wound will allow him to outlast them and/or they will be unable to hurt him at all mathematically. The reason Horus Vulkan and Fulgrim still win is because Mortarion will eventually be unable to hurt Horus thanks to Disabling Strike, Fulgrim just causes too much damage (and some of his attacks ignore FnP) and Vulkan's Instant Death hammer ignores FnP.

</div></div>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:I am the bringer of Death by SharpWriter-1-.jpg|Seriously badass.
File:Mortarion.jpg|''"Not just yet. When Terra is ashes... ''then'' you have my permission to die."''
</gallery>
{{template:Primarchs}}
[[category:Chaos]]

Mortarion

2016-08-13T23:07:00Z

2602:304:CE19:5A10:7C5C:2793:5FFB:65CE:

[[File:Mortarion Portrait.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Mortarion, the Death Lord. Is in serious need of some chapstick.]]

''"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster . . . for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."''<br>
— Friedrich Nietzsche

"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
- The Bhgavad-Gita

Also known as "Death Lord", Mortarion, [[Primarch]] of the [[Death Guard]] (XIV legion), now [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Has an absolute hatred of psykers, a staunch believer of the Darwinistic principal, aaaand... That's basically it.

==Biography==
Mortarion was left on the plague planet [[Barbarus]] by the [[Chaos]] gods. He was found by the Overlord of Barbarus, who may or may not have been a [[Daemon]] or may have been a sorcerer of Nurgle, but whatever he was, he was a something that was less human than Mortarion. The Overlord, naming him Mortarion (to mean "Child of Death") took the infant Primarch and raised him, teaching him the arts of combat and warfare, after caging the child on a mountain top to acclimatize to the poisonous atmosphere. Mortarion's curiosity led him to leave home and set up shop in one of the human villages in a less plague-filled valley, where he simply helped with the harvest. When the village was attacked by a marauding warlord, Mortarion charged into the fray, defending his home with his scythe. After the battle was won, Mortarion taught the villagers, and other humans on Barbarus, the same lessons of warfare he had learned from his adoptive father. Soon, they were strong enough to take the fight to the warlords of Barbarus until only the Overlord remained. The Emperor showed up in a modest robe, as he feels like doing sometimes, and challenged Mortarion to slay the Overlord alone or swear loyalty to him.

Mortarion wasted no more time and went to kill his adoptive father, but he was too weak and succumbed to the poisonous upper atmosphere. Cue [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] time and one hit kill. The Emperor stole Mortarion's kill and evil adoptive father (Mortarion resented both).

===Great Crusade===
He was discovered 130 years into the Great Crusade and was taken to Terra, like all his other brothers were, to learn the ways of the Imperium. But unusually he was held for a bit longer on Terra than his brothers were on the reasoning that they were going to get all of the poisons and toxins out of his system, though this would obviously hit a snag since he got his armour customised to supply him with the Barbarus gases on demand ''(maybe he was dependent on them?)'', naturally all this waiting around got him a bit frustrated and annoyed.

Mortarion managed to sneak his way through the Imperial Palace and to the construction site of the future [[Golden Throne]] ''(yeah, despite being all giant and pungent, he was an excellent [[Ninja]], also evidenced by his rules below)'' When he demanded of [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] what it was, he wouldn't accept the regent's excuses that it was nothing to concern himself over, since Mortarion knew [[Heresy|warp-tech]] when he saw it, and considered the Emperor & Malcador big giant hypocrites. The same went for his three brothers who set up the Librarius, and he didn't get on that well with the others. Apart from maybe the Khan, Mortarion had the least central role in the Crusade of all the Primarchs.

Thus Malcador revealed to Mortarion the Emperor's greater plan; which was to remove the reliance on psykers and warp travel entirely, and that they were already planning the [[Librarian|Council of Nikaea]] in advance and that Mortarion would be the one to make the case for reining it in.

Mortarion gets his own legion and swears allegiance to the big E. Weirdly, for all his dad and Malcador's worries about him, they didn't see fit to keep him fighting alongside the Emperor like (clearly sane and well-adjusted) Vulkan. After a few years of raping and pillaging those filthy Xenos he becomes best buds with [[Horus]] and that [[Konrad Curze|creepy pseudo-batman]]. He wasn't that bad of a guy, but he resented pretty much everyone whose upbringing hadn't been as awful as his, except Horus. There's a bit in Scars where he bitches and moans at Sanguinius, Jaghatai and Fulgrim about how they had it easy before snapping at the Khan that he ''doesn't resent it''. Hmm. The newly renamed Death Guard was moulded to resemble Mortarion's old army on Babarus, as it began prioritising endurance over everything else. In combat Mortarion relied on his raw strength, which according to Jaghatai Khan, only Ferrus Manus had a hope of matching. In a primarch-on-primarch duel he just absorbed damage, tiring his opponent out.

===Horus Heresy===
When the [[Horus Heresy]] began, of all his traitor brothers, we don't quite yet know "why" Mortarion joined the Traitor since there haven't been many books with him as the protagonist. But it was presumably for [[Perturabo|ideological reasons]] rather than being outright [[Fulgrim|corrupted]], [[Angron|broken]] or [[Konrad Curze|renegade already]] since we know he already considered the [[Emperor]] and the [[Imperial Truth]] to be hypocritical. He also felt that the whole goal of the Imperium was the wrong one- viewing non-combatants as unworthy, and hating the influence that civilians began to wield post-Ullanor. Horus' rebellion promised an order based on Might Is Right, and if the Warmaster died in the process of overthrowing the Emprah, then Mortarion might get a shot at the top job. So was probably like "Yeah I won't worship Chaos, but I'll follow you anyway!" with Horus. Then again, a flashback with Malcador tells us that Mortarion might've had mental scars just as big as Curze's and Angron's, between the jail-keeper relationship with his adoptive dad, wanting to kill said foster parent, failing and watching his real dad kill said evil dad and finally finding out that his real dad was also a psyker (basically everything that Mortarion hated).

If he was telling Jaghatai the truth, in Horus he saw a leader who could give the strong freedom to dominate the galaxy, driving out the weak and impure. At the same time, Horus might not keep the throne once he got it; there would be "room to rise" when the war was over.

However, that wasn't as easy as he thought, especially when he saw just how many despised psykers, witches, and sorcerers were running around all over the place. As a last-ditch attempt to change the balance, he tried to recruit [[Jaghatai Khan]] on [[Prospero]], using the Warrior Lodges to subvert the [[White Scars]]. Being an architect of the [[Librarian|Librarius]] and a generally cool guy, the Khan told Mortarion he was an idiot and went to town on the Death Lord. Mortarion gave Jaghatai the fight of his life, but eventually ran away to take his butthurt out on the rest of the Prosperine system, all the while brooding over the Khan's taunts. He'd thrown his lot in with the thing he hated the most and now that he'd run out of allies, it was going to claim him. Scars kinda retcons the start of Mortarion's descent here- the Khan thinks that Mortarion's "power" has grown (probably psychically) and that the guy's face looks discoloured around his rebreather. Despite this, he still insisted on claiming he was the only "pure" Primarch.

Just after getting into that scrap with the Khan, he travelled to a library world that once belonged to the [[Thousand Sons]] and set about [[Exterminatus|purging it]] to find a particular person possessed by a daemon. This would prove a turning point, as he kept the daemon in order to [[Inquisition|extract knowledge on how to defeat daemons]], but ended up getting goaded into using sorcerous powers to blast the creature into a mushy pulp and declaring that he would learn all he could about his [[Daemon|enemy]] in order to learn how to [[Fail|better eradicate it]]. Which the daemon had forseen as the beginning of Mortarion's descent into [[Fifteen views of Asscrack|Nurgle's Pocket]]. The retcon continues here, as Mortarion's claims to "purity" are mocked to his face and we're told that a Chaos God has already staked a claim on him. It's also pretty clear that Mortarion's close to going nuts even before this push, as his quarters are littered with Scientific Anti-Warp Devices (shit tons of charms, incantations and numerical codes which do hurt Daemons... once he starts using the Warp). Oh yeah, and he makes speeches about how destroying worlds is good for the soul.

When his big ol' fleet was pimping their way to Terra, they were caught in a Warp Storm, where they had to suffer diseases which would kill anyone else. The Death Guard's legendary endurance turned against them, holding them just on the edge of death, suffering so hard that it makes a [[Dark Eldar]] torture feel like massage (no, really). Well, what would be the best way to stop the disease? [[Derp|Start the worship of the God of the Diseases, of course!]] To be fair, Typhon was already doing that- in fact, he was the one who arranged them to be caught in the warp storm in the first place. [[Nurgle]] was pleased as the Death Guard swore loyalty to him, and ended their suffering (but made them walking sacks of meat that simply won't die, our beloved [[Plague Marines]]). Mortarion instead became a bundle of bones and rusted armour; a true Death Lord.

This act of "swearing loyalty" takes on a different context when you realize that Mortarion utterly despised the Ruinous Powers (even if he may have been getting some assistance from them towards the end of the Heresy, if the events of <i>Scars</i> are to be believed) and only submitted to Nurgle because he physically couldn't suffer any longer or watch his sons do the same. Certain fluff sources literally state that as Mortarion lay in agony he pictured himself once again defeated atop his daemon-father's lair, too weak to fight on in the face of certain death, only this time he knew the Emperor wasn't going to save him from his fate (when you consider the importance he placed on strength and the refusal to surrender, this becomes an even bigger nightmare). And so, after a lifetime of striving to become the most grim, unstoppable motherfucker in the galaxy he crumbled when the stakes were highest, and lost his soul to Chaos, becoming everything he hated most. Grimdark.

===Post Heresy===
[[File:Mortarion,_Prince_of_Decay.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Seriously, Morty was playing Ol'Grimmy before the [[C'tan|Nightbringer]] was ever thought up! So much for originality [[GW]].]]

After Horus got his ass kicked, Mortarion made epic formations, and marched his ships (yes, marched them!) to the Eye of Terror, where they found a nice new home, known as Plague Planet, which they started decorating and uhh... "cleaning".

Long story short, him and his legion now worship [[Nurgle]] and owns his personal little planet in the [[Eye of Terror]] from which all disease and plagues in the galaxy originate. Of note, he is now a [[Daemon Prince]], so don't piss him off. He should probably work out more so as to get back into shape, but the fact that he just has to be within a few kilometers for you to die from the toxic emanations sort of renders that superfluous. Still, Typhus got bored with his dad pretty quickly, and decided to go off on a great big Getting Shit Done expedition.

The whole enslavement and broken-by-plague thing has probably hurt Mortarion's motivation a little bit. Whereas Fulgrim, Angron and Magnus all get to have some fun with their Chaos abilities, Mortarion is just stuck in a mess of self-hatred. He's basically ended up like his adoptive father, punishing all his subjects for being too weak to rebel against him- by proxy, punishing himself for his own weakness.

To his credit, he did make himself useful in the Fall of Sanctia in 437.M36 by sending an army of diseased [[Orks]] to soften the planet up, then made their corpses explode into a massive horde of Nurglings when he and the Death Guard landed, wiping out all life in less than a day. (Thanks, [[Phil Kelly|Phil]]!) It's also emerged that he helped Typhus concoct the Plague of Unbelief, which helped raise the curtain on Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. Now if only some [[Lorgar|other]] [[Fulgrim|assholes]] would do some work every now and then...

===The Draigo Incident===

Tl;dr: he got his ass handed to him by [[Kaldor Draigo]] who carved the name of the previous SUPREME GRAND MASTER, Geronitan, into Mortarion's heart.

The Longer story as told by the Audio Drama ''Mortarion's Heart'', Geronitan more or less baited Mortarion and allowed whole sectors to die under the Primarch's massive force (every Nurgle cult and warband within 100 sectors) until he showed up at Kornovin, which is one of the few places the Grey Knights can preform the ritual to bind his soul and kill him for good. It failed due to the fact Geronitan forgot to Wear a helmet so Mortarion just Plague Wind him to death and laughed as the entire Grey Knights Chapter cried (yes this happened.)

After Kaldor got elected, mostly because he's the most expendable Grand Master who's also skilled enough to fight the Death Lord. Grand Master Crom gave Kaldor the true weapon, the name The Emperor gave to Mortarion.

After a laughably short and one sided fight, which was really just Mortarion punching Kaldor in the face over and over again, Kaldor was able to light Mortarion's cape on fire when Mortarion eventually got a hand cramp. Mortarion pauses for a second because that was his VERY favorite cape and becomes distracted enough to allow Kaldor to slip Mortarion's true name into the Death Lord's mind, which causes him to FUCKING EXPLODE somehow, regardless of the fact that in every other instance of true names ever the worst that can happen is your combat stats getting halved. Though it might be because in this case the name itself originated from the Emperor, and anything that has to do with the Big-E will mess up anything Daemonic big time. Kaldor then crawls over to a helpless, nearly broken in half Mortarion and writes Geronitan's name on Mortarion's heart in magic marker.

Just more of the usual stupid Grey Knight circle jerk stuff.

As the 13th Black Crusade grinds on, rumours abound that Abbadon has finally persuaded Nurgle to set Mortarion's alarm clock and got him moving again and '''killing Imperial scum!'''
His fans resent the implication that he's a lazy old fuck, because even though he isn't as active as [[Angron]], he still gets waaaaay more shit done than people like [[Lorgar]] or [[Perturabo]].

----

==Tabletop==
[[File:FW_Mortarion.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Here's his mini teaching all of us how to properly wield a scythe.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

Mortarion is a tough son of a bitch: with the Primarch rule, T/W 7, flat dice wounds like poisoned and fleshbane wound on 6's, rerollable IWND and Toughness tests, 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, he's basically a Gargantuan Creature for all intents and purposes. He negates Maledictions affecting him or his unit on a 4+, ''(which isn't a Deny the Witch, so Adamantium Will doesn't help and you get his 5+ DtW after, though it works out to being exactly the same as nullifying them on a 3+ anyway)'', Death Guard gain Stubborn and Poisoned (4+) on all frag grenades and missiles which is pretty sickening. For weapons he has the Lantern pistol which is almost a pistol meltagun, phosfex bombs (an unlimited supply of them, and he can throw them at double the range!), frag grenades and Silencer, a S7 AP 2 no longer unwieldy power scythe with sweep attacks that causes Instant Death and reroll failed penetration rolls. Great for getting rid of that annoying Praetor or captain. Notable he's also one of the only characters in fiction who knows how the hell you're supposed to hold a scythe!.

Not enough for you? Good, because they also gave him the Shadow Of The Reaper rule. It makes enemy units take a fear check at -1 leadership. By itself in normal 40k rules, it's situationally great, making it pretty mediocre on the whole, but in the pre-ATSKNF 30k setting, it's much more useful. But much more importantly, it gives him a special move in the shooting phase: if Mortarion isn't locked in combat or embarked and doesn't shoot or run, he can take a leadership test and teleport 10 inches away from his current position. It does not count as moving, does not scatter, and does not prevent him from charging (But he does count as making a disordered charge. Not that big of a problem, seriously). There are some other caveats, but he effectively has a minimum 18" charge range without factoring in his base size, and he is fleet to boot. [[Awesome|Because he's fucking terrifying.]]

His model is equally as badass as his rules, if you can get past that he doesn't have a rebreather. Although the designer probably thought that he didn't really need to breathe, and he's probably immune to anything poisonous anyway (on Prospero the Khan had to go in totally suited up, whereas the Death Lord just strolled in dressed just the same as normal, and Girlyman established that Primarchs can breathe in an incredibly thin atmosphere - he can apparently fight in near-vacuum for hours on end without a helmet, because [[Heresy|fuck physics]]). (Even in-universe, Guilliman's ability to fight in the void without a helmet and little oxygen has Imperial scholars going "WTF?")

==Mortarion VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (especially with Mortarion who can mathematically always go the entire game in a Primarch duel), with that in mind this section is how Mortarion fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never changes the outcome of the fights, the winner is still the winner with or without it) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Mortarion VS Horus
**Horus will use Worldbreaker (as wounding on 2's is better than re-rolling to wound) and hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.332 times, 1.666 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight.

* Mortarion VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will instead hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion just barely loses this fight by one turn as his extra wound almost allows him to outlast Angron.

* Mortarion VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 2.666 times (Fireblade)/1.777 times (Laer Blade), 1.333 times (Fireblade)/0.888 times (Laer Blade) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight either by a little or a lot depending on whether or not Fulgrim has Fireblade or not.

* Mortarion VS Ferrus
**Ferrus with Forgebreaker: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1.666 times with Forgebreaker and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.999 total), 0.999 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus with Bare Hands: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1 time with his hands and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.333 total), 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 times at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and damage.

* Mortarion VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins as even though he does less damage he'll outlast Curze.

* Mortarion VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion loses as mathematically he's incapable of harming Vulkan.

* Mortarion VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Mortarion to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Mortarion still beats Lorgar. He also loses to invisible Lorgar Transfigured just like every other Primarch (mathematically he causes 0 wounds to him).

*Mortarion VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.333 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.666 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and 0.222 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins but only if Perturabo doesn't bring Forgebreaker.

* Mortarion VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.568 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.0124 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins

* Mortarion VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.48 times (normal)/1.183 times (Sundering Blow), 0.74/0.59 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0.035 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins in 12 turns as Dorn does a lot less damage in return.

* Mortarion VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
**Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
**Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

* Mortarion VS Roboute Guilliman
**Round 1: Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (With Hand of Dominion), 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Round 2 and after: Guilliman hits 3.333 times (Thanks to Preternatura Strategy), wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.417 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND they become 0.083 wounds.
**Guilliman wins in 8 turns as Mortarion's damage is almost irrelevant.

* TLDR version: Mortarion's good against Konrad Curze, Vanilla Lorgar, Hammerless Perturabo, Alpharius, Rogal Dorn, Corvus Corax and bad against Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Lorgar Transfigured, Vulkan, Perturabo with Hammer and Guilliman, putting him quite in the middle of the road for Primarch duelling.

* Dirty Trick: Use Morturg and put Endurance on Mortarion, if you do this Mortarion can beat everyone (including Lorgar Transfigured) except Horus, Fulgrim (with Fireblade) and Vulkan as his damage output will exceed theirs or his extra wound will allow him to outlast them and/or they will be unable to hurt him at all mathematically. The reason Horus Vulkan and Fulgrim still win is because Mortarion will eventually be unable to hurt Horus thanks to Disabling Strike, Fulgrim just causes too much damage (and some of his attacks ignore FnP) and Vulkan's Instant Death hammer ignores FnP.

</div></div>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:I am the bringer of Death by SharpWriter-1-.jpg|Seriously badass.
File:Mortarion.jpg|''"Not just yet. When Terra is ashes... ''then'' you have my permission to die."''
</gallery>
{{template:Primarchs}}
[[category:Chaos]]

Mortarion

2016-08-13T23:01:16Z

2602:304:CE19:5A10:7C5C:2793:5FFB:65CE:

[[File:Mortarion Portrait.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Mortarion, the Death Lord. Is in serious need of some chapstick.]]

''"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster . . . for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."''<br>
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Also known as "Death Lord", Mortarion, [[Primarch]] of the [[Death Guard]] (XIV legion), now [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Has an absolute hatred of psykers, a staunch believer of the Darwinistic principal, aaaand... That's basically it.

==Biography==
Mortarion was left on the plague planet [[Barbarus]] by the [[Chaos]] gods. He was found by the Overlord of Barbarus, who may or may not have been a [[Daemon]] or may have been a sorcerer of Nurgle, but whatever he was, he was a something that was less human than Mortarion. The Overlord, naming him Mortarion (to mean "Child of Death") took the infant Primarch and raised him, teaching him the arts of combat and warfare, after caging the child on a mountain top to acclimatize to the poisonous atmosphere. Mortarion's curiosity led him to leave home and set up shop in one of the human villages in a less plague-filled valley, where he simply helped with the harvest. When the village was attacked by a marauding warlord, Mortarion charged into the fray, defending his home with his scythe. After the battle was won, Mortarion taught the villagers, and other humans on Barbarus, the same lessons of warfare he had learned from his adoptive father. Soon, they were strong enough to take the fight to the warlords of Barbarus until only the Overlord remained. The Emperor showed up in a modest robe, as he feels like doing sometimes, and challenged Mortarion to slay the Overlord alone or swear loyalty to him.

Mortarion wasted no more time and went to kill his adoptive father, but he was too weak and succumbed to the poisonous upper atmosphere. Cue [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] time and one hit kill. The Emperor stole Mortarion's kill and evil adoptive father (Mortarion resented both).

===Great Crusade===
He was discovered 130 years into the Great Crusade and was taken to Terra, like all his other brothers were, to learn the ways of the Imperium. But unusually he was held for a bit longer on Terra than his brothers were on the reasoning that they were going to get all of the poisons and toxins out of his system, though this would obviously hit a snag since he got his armour customised to supply him with the Barbarus gases on demand ''(maybe he was dependent on them?)'', naturally all this waiting around got him a bit frustrated and annoyed.

Mortarion managed to sneak his way through the Imperial Palace and to the construction site of the future [[Golden Throne]] ''(yeah, despite being all giant and pungent, he was an excellent [[Ninja]], also evidenced by his rules below)'' When he demanded of [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] what it was, he wouldn't accept the regent's excuses that it was nothing to concern himself over, since Mortarion knew [[Heresy|warp-tech]] when he saw it, and considered the Emperor & Malcador big giant hypocrites. The same went for his three brothers who set up the Librarius, and he didn't get on that well with the others. Apart from maybe the Khan, Mortarion had the least central role in the Crusade of all the Primarchs.

Thus Malcador revealed to Mortarion the Emperor's greater plan; which was to remove the reliance on psykers and warp travel entirely, and that they were already planning the [[Librarian|Council of Nikaea]] in advance and that Mortarion would be the one to make the case for reining it in.

Mortarion gets his own legion and swears allegiance to the big E. Weirdly, for all his dad and Malcador's worries about him, they didn't see fit to keep him fighting alongside the Emperor like (clearly sane and well-adjusted) Vulkan. After a few years of raping and pillaging those filthy Xenos he becomes best buds with [[Horus]] and that [[Konrad Curze|creepy pseudo-batman]]. He wasn't that bad of a guy, but he resented pretty much everyone whose upbringing hadn't been as awful as his, except Horus. There's a bit in Scars where he bitches and moans at Sanguinius, Jaghatai and Fulgrim about how they had it easy before snapping at the Khan that he ''doesn't resent it''. Hmm. The newly renamed Death Guard was moulded to resemble Mortarion's old army on Babarus, as it began prioritising endurance over everything else. In combat Mortarion relied on his raw strength, which according to Jaghatai Khan, only Ferrus Manus had a hope of matching. In a primarch-on-primarch duel he just absorbed damage, tiring his opponent out.

===Horus Heresy===
When the [[Horus Heresy]] began, of all his traitor brothers, we don't quite yet know "why" Mortarion joined the Traitor since there haven't been many books with him as the protagonist. But it was presumably for [[Perturabo|ideological reasons]] rather than being outright [[Fulgrim|corrupted]], [[Angron|broken]] or [[Konrad Curze|renegade already]] since we know he already considered the [[Emperor]] and the [[Imperial Truth]] to be hypocritical. He also felt that the whole goal of the Imperium was the wrong one- viewing non-combatants as unworthy, and hating the influence that civilians began to wield post-Ullanor. Horus' rebellion promised an order based on Might Is Right, and if the Warmaster died in the process of overthrowing the Emprah, then Mortarion might get a shot at the top job. So was probably like "Yeah I won't worship Chaos, but I'll follow you anyway!" with Horus. Then again, a flashback with Malcador tells us that Mortarion might've had mental scars just as big as Curze's and Angron's, between the jail-keeper relationship with his adoptive dad, wanting to kill said foster parent, failing and watching his real dad kill said evil dad and finally finding out that his real dad was also a psyker (basically everything that Mortarion hated).

If he was telling Jaghatai the truth, in Horus he saw a leader who could give the strong freedom to dominate the galaxy, driving out the weak and impure. At the same time, Horus might not keep the throne once he got it; there would be "room to rise" when the war was over.

However, that wasn't as easy as he thought, especially when he saw just how many despised psykers, witches, and sorcerers were running around all over the place. As a last-ditch attempt to change the balance, he tried to recruit [[Jaghatai Khan]] on [[Prospero]], using the Warrior Lodges to subvert the [[White Scars]]. Being an architect of the [[Librarian|Librarius]] and a generally cool guy, the Khan told Mortarion he was an idiot and went to town on the Death Lord. Mortarion gave Jaghatai the fight of his life, but eventually ran away to take his butthurt out on the rest of the Prosperine system, all the while brooding over the Khan's taunts. He'd thrown his lot in with the thing he hated the most and now that he'd run out of allies, it was going to claim him. Scars kinda retcons the start of Mortarion's descent here- the Khan thinks that Mortarion's "power" has grown (probably psychically) and that the guy's face looks discoloured around his rebreather. Despite this, he still insisted on claiming he was the only "pure" Primarch.

Just after getting into that scrap with the Khan, he travelled to a library world that once belonged to the [[Thousand Sons]] and set about [[Exterminatus|purging it]] to find a particular person possessed by a daemon. This would prove a turning point, as he kept the daemon in order to [[Inquisition|extract knowledge on how to defeat daemons]], but ended up getting goaded into using sorcerous powers to blast the creature into a mushy pulp and declaring that he would learn all he could about his [[Daemon|enemy]] in order to learn how to [[Fail|better eradicate it]]. Which the daemon had forseen as the beginning of Mortarion's descent into [[Fifteen views of Asscrack|Nurgle's Pocket]]. The retcon continues here, as Mortarion's claims to "purity" are mocked to his face and we're told that a Chaos God has already staked a claim on him. It's also pretty clear that Mortarion's close to going nuts even before this push, as his quarters are littered with Scientific Anti-Warp Devices (shit tons of charms, incantations and numerical codes which do hurt Daemons... once he starts using the Warp). Oh yeah, and he makes speeches about how destroying worlds is good for the soul.

When his big ol' fleet was pimping their way to Terra, they were caught in a Warp Storm, where they had to suffer diseases which would kill anyone else. The Death Guard's legendary endurance turned against them, holding them just on the edge of death, suffering so hard that it makes a [[Dark Eldar]] torture feel like massage (no, really). Well, what would be the best way to stop the disease? [[Derp|Start the worship of the God of the Diseases, of course!]] To be fair, Typhon was already doing that- in fact, he was the one who arranged them to be caught in the warp storm in the first place. [[Nurgle]] was pleased as the Death Guard swore loyalty to him, and ended their suffering (but made them walking sacks of meat that simply won't die, our beloved [[Plague Marines]]). Mortarion instead became a bundle of bones and rusted armour; a true Death Lord.

This act of "swearing loyalty" takes on a different context when you realize that Mortarion utterly despised the Ruinous Powers (even if he may have been getting some assistance from them towards the end of the Heresy, if the events of <i>Scars</i> are to be believed) and only submitted to Nurgle because he physically couldn't suffer any longer or watch his sons do the same. Certain fluff sources literally state that as Mortarion lay in agony he pictured himself once again defeated atop his daemon-father's lair, too weak to fight on in the face of certain death, only this time he knew the Emperor wasn't going to save him from his fate (when you consider the importance he placed on strength and the refusal to surrender, this becomes an even bigger nightmare). And so, after a lifetime of striving to become the most grim, unstoppable motherfucker in the galaxy he crumbled when the stakes were highest, and lost his soul to Chaos, becoming everything he hated most. Grimdark.

===Post Heresy===
[[File:Mortarion,_Prince_of_Decay.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Seriously, Morty was playing Ol'Grimmy before the [[C'tan|Nightbringer]] was ever thought up! So much for originality [[GW]].]]

After Horus got his ass kicked, Mortarion made epic formations, and marched his ships (yes, marched them!) to the Eye of Terror, where they found a nice new home, known as Plague Planet, which they started decorating and uhh... "cleaning".

Long story short, him and his legion now worship [[Nurgle]] and owns his personal little planet in the [[Eye of Terror]] from which all disease and plagues in the galaxy originate. Of note, he is now a [[Daemon Prince]], so don't piss him off. He should probably work out more so as to get back into shape, but the fact that he just has to be within a few kilometers for you to die from the toxic emanations sort of renders that superfluous. Still, Typhus got bored with his dad pretty quickly, and decided to go off on a great big Getting Shit Done expedition.

The whole enslavement and broken-by-plague thing has probably hurt Mortarion's motivation a little bit. Whereas Fulgrim, Angron and Magnus all get to have some fun with their Chaos abilities, Mortarion is just stuck in a mess of self-hatred. He's basically ended up like his adoptive father, punishing all his subjects for being too weak to rebel against him- by proxy, punishing himself for his own weakness.

To his credit, he did make himself useful in the Fall of Sanctia in 437.M36 by sending an army of diseased [[Orks]] to soften the planet up, then made their corpses explode into a massive horde of Nurglings when he and the Death Guard landed, wiping out all life in less than a day. (Thanks, [[Phil Kelly|Phil]]!) It's also emerged that he helped Typhus concoct the Plague of Unbelief, which helped raise the curtain on Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. Now if only some [[Lorgar|other]] [[Fulgrim|assholes]] would do some work every now and then...

===The Draigo Incident===

Tl;dr: he got his ass handed to him by [[Kaldor Draigo]] who carved the name of the previous SUPREME GRAND MASTER, Geronitan, into Mortarion's heart.

The Longer story as told by the Audio Drama ''Mortarion's Heart'', Geronitan more or less baited Mortarion and allowed whole sectors to die under the Primarch's massive force (every Nurgle cult and warband within 100 sectors) until he showed up at Kornovin, which is one of the few places the Grey Knights can preform the ritual to bind his soul and kill him for good. It failed due to the fact Geronitan forgot to Wear a helmet so Mortarion just Plague Wind him to death and laughed as the entire Grey Knights Chapter cried (yes this happened.)

After Kaldor got elected, mostly because he's the most expendable Grand Master who's also skilled enough to fight the Death Lord. Grand Master Crom gave Kaldor the true weapon, the name The Emperor gave to Mortarion.

After a laughably short and one sided fight, which was really just Mortarion punching Kaldor in the face over and over again, Kaldor was able to light Mortarion's cape on fire when Mortarion eventually got a hand cramp. Mortarion pauses for a second because that was his VERY favorite cape and becomes distracted enough to allow Kaldor to slip Mortarion's true name into the Death Lord's mind, which causes him to FUCKING EXPLODE somehow, regardless of the fact that in every other instance of true names ever the worst that can happen is your combat stats getting halved. Though it might be because in this case the name itself originated from the Emperor, and anything that has to do with the Big-E will mess up anything Daemonic big time. Kaldor then crawls over to a helpless, nearly broken in half Mortarion and writes Geronitan's name on Mortarion's heart in magic marker.

Just more of the usual stupid Grey Knight circle jerk stuff.

As the 13th Black Crusade grinds on, rumours abound that Abbadon has finally persuaded Nurgle to set Mortarion's alarm clock and got him moving again and '''killing Imperial scum!'''
His fans resent the implication that he's a lazy old fuck, because even though he isn't as active as [[Angron]], he still gets waaaaay more shit done than people like [[Lorgar]] or [[Perturabo]].

----

==Tabletop==
[[File:FW_Mortarion.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Here's his mini teaching all of us how to properly wield a scythe.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

Mortarion is a tough son of a bitch: with the Primarch rule, T/W 7, flat dice wounds like poisoned and fleshbane wound on 6's, rerollable IWND and Toughness tests, 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, he's basically a Gargantuan Creature for all intents and purposes. He negates Maledictions affecting him or his unit on a 4+, ''(which isn't a Deny the Witch, so Adamantium Will doesn't help and you get his 5+ DtW after, though it works out to being exactly the same as nullifying them on a 3+ anyway)'', Death Guard gain Stubborn and Poisoned (4+) on all frag grenades and missiles which is pretty sickening. For weapons he has the Lantern pistol which is almost a pistol meltagun, phosfex bombs (an unlimited supply of them, and he can throw them at double the range!), frag grenades and Silencer, a S7 AP 2 no longer unwieldy power scythe with sweep attacks that causes Instant Death and reroll failed penetration rolls. Great for getting rid of that annoying Praetor or captain. Notable he's also one of the only characters in fiction who knows how the hell you're supposed to hold a scythe!.

Not enough for you? Good, because they also gave him the Shadow Of The Reaper rule. It makes enemy units take a fear check at -1 leadership. By itself in normal 40k rules, it's situationally great, making it pretty mediocre on the whole, but in the pre-ATSKNF 30k setting, it's much more useful. But much more importantly, it gives him a special move in the shooting phase: if Mortarion isn't locked in combat or embarked and doesn't shoot or run, he can take a leadership test and teleport 10 inches away from his current position. It does not count as moving, does not scatter, and does not prevent him from charging (But he does count as making a disordered charge. Not that big of a problem, seriously). There are some other caveats, but he effectively has a minimum 18" charge range without factoring in his base size, and he is fleet to boot. [[Awesome|Because he's fucking terrifying.]]

His model is equally as badass as his rules, if you can get past that he doesn't have a rebreather. Although the designer probably thought that he didn't really need to breathe, and he's probably immune to anything poisonous anyway (on Prospero the Khan had to go in totally suited up, whereas the Death Lord just strolled in dressed just the same as normal, and Girlyman established that Primarchs can breathe in an incredibly thin atmosphere - he can apparently fight in near-vacuum for hours on end without a helmet, because [[Heresy|fuck physics]]). (Even in-universe, Guilliman's ability to fight in the void without a helmet and little oxygen has Imperial scholars going "WTF?")

==Mortarion VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (especially with Mortarion who can mathematically always go the entire game in a Primarch duel), with that in mind this section is how Mortarion fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never changes the outcome of the fights, the winner is still the winner with or without it) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Mortarion VS Horus
**Horus will use Worldbreaker (as wounding on 2's is better than re-rolling to wound) and hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.332 times, 1.666 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight.

* Mortarion VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will instead hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion just barely loses this fight by one turn as his extra wound almost allows him to outlast Angron.

* Mortarion VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 2.666 times (Fireblade)/1.777 times (Laer Blade), 1.333 times (Fireblade)/0.888 times (Laer Blade) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight either by a little or a lot depending on whether or not Fulgrim has Fireblade or not.

* Mortarion VS Ferrus
**Ferrus with Forgebreaker: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1.666 times with Forgebreaker and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.999 total), 0.999 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus with Bare Hands: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1 time with his hands and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.333 total), 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 times at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and damage.

* Mortarion VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins as even though he does less damage he'll outlast Curze.

* Mortarion VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion loses as mathematically he's incapable of harming Vulkan.

* Mortarion VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Mortarion to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Mortarion still beats Lorgar. He also loses to invisible Lorgar Transfigured just like every other Primarch (mathematically he causes 0 wounds to him).

*Mortarion VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.333 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.666 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and 0.222 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins but only if Perturabo doesn't bring Forgebreaker.

* Mortarion VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.568 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.0124 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins

* Mortarion VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.48 times (normal)/1.183 times (Sundering Blow), 0.74/0.59 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0.035 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins in 12 turns as Dorn does a lot less damage in return.

* Mortarion VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
**Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
**Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

* Mortarion VS Roboute Guilliman
**Round 1: Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (With Hand of Dominion), 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Round 2 and after: Guilliman hits 3.333 times (Thanks to Preternatura Strategy), wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.417 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND they become 0.083 wounds.
**Guilliman wins in 8 turns as Mortarion's damage is almost irrelevant.

* TLDR version: Mortarion's good against Konrad Curze, Vanilla Lorgar, Hammerless Perturabo, Alpharius, Rogal Dorn, Corvus Corax and bad against Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Lorgar Transfigured, Vulkan, Perturabo with Hammer and Guilliman, putting him quite in the middle of the road for Primarch duelling.

* Dirty Trick: Use Morturg and put Endurance on Mortarion, if you do this Mortarion can beat everyone (including Lorgar Transfigured) except Horus, Fulgrim (with Fireblade) and Vulkan as his damage output will exceed theirs or his extra wound will allow him to outlast them and/or they will be unable to hurt him at all mathematically. The reason Horus Vulkan and Fulgrim still win is because Mortarion will eventually be unable to hurt Horus thanks to Disabling Strike, Fulgrim just causes too much damage (and some of his attacks ignore FnP) and Vulkan's Instant Death hammer ignores FnP.

</div></div>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:I am the bringer of Death by SharpWriter-1-.jpg|Seriously badass.
File:Mortarion.jpg|''"Not just yet. When Terra is ashes... ''then'' you have my permission to die."''
</gallery>
{{template:Primarchs}}
[[category:Chaos]]

Mortarion

2016-08-13T23:00:54Z

2602:304:CE19:5A10:7C5C:2793:5FFB:65CE:

[[File:Mortarion Portrait.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Mortarion, the Death Lord. Is in serious need of some chapstick.]]

''"“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster . . . for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”."''<br>
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Also known as "Death Lord", Mortarion, [[Primarch]] of the [[Death Guard]] (XIV legion), now [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Has an absolute hatred of psykers, a staunch believer of the Darwinistic principal, aaaand... That's basically it.

==Biography==
Mortarion was left on the plague planet [[Barbarus]] by the [[Chaos]] gods. He was found by the Overlord of Barbarus, who may or may not have been a [[Daemon]] or may have been a sorcerer of Nurgle, but whatever he was, he was a something that was less human than Mortarion. The Overlord, naming him Mortarion (to mean "Child of Death") took the infant Primarch and raised him, teaching him the arts of combat and warfare, after caging the child on a mountain top to acclimatize to the poisonous atmosphere. Mortarion's curiosity led him to leave home and set up shop in one of the human villages in a less plague-filled valley, where he simply helped with the harvest. When the village was attacked by a marauding warlord, Mortarion charged into the fray, defending his home with his scythe. After the battle was won, Mortarion taught the villagers, and other humans on Barbarus, the same lessons of warfare he had learned from his adoptive father. Soon, they were strong enough to take the fight to the warlords of Barbarus until only the Overlord remained. The Emperor showed up in a modest robe, as he feels like doing sometimes, and challenged Mortarion to slay the Overlord alone or swear loyalty to him.

Mortarion wasted no more time and went to kill his adoptive father, but he was too weak and succumbed to the poisonous upper atmosphere. Cue [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] time and one hit kill. The Emperor stole Mortarion's kill and evil adoptive father (Mortarion resented both).

===Great Crusade===
He was discovered 130 years into the Great Crusade and was taken to Terra, like all his other brothers were, to learn the ways of the Imperium. But unusually he was held for a bit longer on Terra than his brothers were on the reasoning that they were going to get all of the poisons and toxins out of his system, though this would obviously hit a snag since he got his armour customised to supply him with the Barbarus gases on demand ''(maybe he was dependent on them?)'', naturally all this waiting around got him a bit frustrated and annoyed.

Mortarion managed to sneak his way through the Imperial Palace and to the construction site of the future [[Golden Throne]] ''(yeah, despite being all giant and pungent, he was an excellent [[Ninja]], also evidenced by his rules below)'' When he demanded of [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] what it was, he wouldn't accept the regent's excuses that it was nothing to concern himself over, since Mortarion knew [[Heresy|warp-tech]] when he saw it, and considered the Emperor & Malcador big giant hypocrites. The same went for his three brothers who set up the Librarius, and he didn't get on that well with the others. Apart from maybe the Khan, Mortarion had the least central role in the Crusade of all the Primarchs.

Thus Malcador revealed to Mortarion the Emperor's greater plan; which was to remove the reliance on psykers and warp travel entirely, and that they were already planning the [[Librarian|Council of Nikaea]] in advance and that Mortarion would be the one to make the case for reining it in.

Mortarion gets his own legion and swears allegiance to the big E. Weirdly, for all his dad and Malcador's worries about him, they didn't see fit to keep him fighting alongside the Emperor like (clearly sane and well-adjusted) Vulkan. After a few years of raping and pillaging those filthy Xenos he becomes best buds with [[Horus]] and that [[Konrad Curze|creepy pseudo-batman]]. He wasn't that bad of a guy, but he resented pretty much everyone whose upbringing hadn't been as awful as his, except Horus. There's a bit in Scars where he bitches and moans at Sanguinius, Jaghatai and Fulgrim about how they had it easy before snapping at the Khan that he ''doesn't resent it''. Hmm. The newly renamed Death Guard was moulded to resemble Mortarion's old army on Babarus, as it began prioritising endurance over everything else. In combat Mortarion relied on his raw strength, which according to Jaghatai Khan, only Ferrus Manus had a hope of matching. In a primarch-on-primarch duel he just absorbed damage, tiring his opponent out.

===Horus Heresy===
When the [[Horus Heresy]] began, of all his traitor brothers, we don't quite yet know "why" Mortarion joined the Traitor since there haven't been many books with him as the protagonist. But it was presumably for [[Perturabo|ideological reasons]] rather than being outright [[Fulgrim|corrupted]], [[Angron|broken]] or [[Konrad Curze|renegade already]] since we know he already considered the [[Emperor]] and the [[Imperial Truth]] to be hypocritical. He also felt that the whole goal of the Imperium was the wrong one- viewing non-combatants as unworthy, and hating the influence that civilians began to wield post-Ullanor. Horus' rebellion promised an order based on Might Is Right, and if the Warmaster died in the process of overthrowing the Emprah, then Mortarion might get a shot at the top job. So was probably like "Yeah I won't worship Chaos, but I'll follow you anyway!" with Horus. Then again, a flashback with Malcador tells us that Mortarion might've had mental scars just as big as Curze's and Angron's, between the jail-keeper relationship with his adoptive dad, wanting to kill said foster parent, failing and watching his real dad kill said evil dad and finally finding out that his real dad was also a psyker (basically everything that Mortarion hated).

If he was telling Jaghatai the truth, in Horus he saw a leader who could give the strong freedom to dominate the galaxy, driving out the weak and impure. At the same time, Horus might not keep the throne once he got it; there would be "room to rise" when the war was over.

However, that wasn't as easy as he thought, especially when he saw just how many despised psykers, witches, and sorcerers were running around all over the place. As a last-ditch attempt to change the balance, he tried to recruit [[Jaghatai Khan]] on [[Prospero]], using the Warrior Lodges to subvert the [[White Scars]]. Being an architect of the [[Librarian|Librarius]] and a generally cool guy, the Khan told Mortarion he was an idiot and went to town on the Death Lord. Mortarion gave Jaghatai the fight of his life, but eventually ran away to take his butthurt out on the rest of the Prosperine system, all the while brooding over the Khan's taunts. He'd thrown his lot in with the thing he hated the most and now that he'd run out of allies, it was going to claim him. Scars kinda retcons the start of Mortarion's descent here- the Khan thinks that Mortarion's "power" has grown (probably psychically) and that the guy's face looks discoloured around his rebreather. Despite this, he still insisted on claiming he was the only "pure" Primarch.

Just after getting into that scrap with the Khan, he travelled to a library world that once belonged to the [[Thousand Sons]] and set about [[Exterminatus|purging it]] to find a particular person possessed by a daemon. This would prove a turning point, as he kept the daemon in order to [[Inquisition|extract knowledge on how to defeat daemons]], but ended up getting goaded into using sorcerous powers to blast the creature into a mushy pulp and declaring that he would learn all he could about his [[Daemon|enemy]] in order to learn how to [[Fail|better eradicate it]]. Which the daemon had forseen as the beginning of Mortarion's descent into [[Fifteen views of Asscrack|Nurgle's Pocket]]. The retcon continues here, as Mortarion's claims to "purity" are mocked to his face and we're told that a Chaos God has already staked a claim on him. It's also pretty clear that Mortarion's close to going nuts even before this push, as his quarters are littered with Scientific Anti-Warp Devices (shit tons of charms, incantations and numerical codes which do hurt Daemons... once he starts using the Warp). Oh yeah, and he makes speeches about how destroying worlds is good for the soul.

When his big ol' fleet was pimping their way to Terra, they were caught in a Warp Storm, where they had to suffer diseases which would kill anyone else. The Death Guard's legendary endurance turned against them, holding them just on the edge of death, suffering so hard that it makes a [[Dark Eldar]] torture feel like massage (no, really). Well, what would be the best way to stop the disease? [[Derp|Start the worship of the God of the Diseases, of course!]] To be fair, Typhon was already doing that- in fact, he was the one who arranged them to be caught in the warp storm in the first place. [[Nurgle]] was pleased as the Death Guard swore loyalty to him, and ended their suffering (but made them walking sacks of meat that simply won't die, our beloved [[Plague Marines]]). Mortarion instead became a bundle of bones and rusted armour; a true Death Lord.

This act of "swearing loyalty" takes on a different context when you realize that Mortarion utterly despised the Ruinous Powers (even if he may have been getting some assistance from them towards the end of the Heresy, if the events of <i>Scars</i> are to be believed) and only submitted to Nurgle because he physically couldn't suffer any longer or watch his sons do the same. Certain fluff sources literally state that as Mortarion lay in agony he pictured himself once again defeated atop his daemon-father's lair, too weak to fight on in the face of certain death, only this time he knew the Emperor wasn't going to save him from his fate (when you consider the importance he placed on strength and the refusal to surrender, this becomes an even bigger nightmare). And so, after a lifetime of striving to become the most grim, unstoppable motherfucker in the galaxy he crumbled when the stakes were highest, and lost his soul to Chaos, becoming everything he hated most. Grimdark.

===Post Heresy===
[[File:Mortarion,_Prince_of_Decay.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Seriously, Morty was playing Ol'Grimmy before the [[C'tan|Nightbringer]] was ever thought up! So much for originality [[GW]].]]

After Horus got his ass kicked, Mortarion made epic formations, and marched his ships (yes, marched them!) to the Eye of Terror, where they found a nice new home, known as Plague Planet, which they started decorating and uhh... "cleaning".

Long story short, him and his legion now worship [[Nurgle]] and owns his personal little planet in the [[Eye of Terror]] from which all disease and plagues in the galaxy originate. Of note, he is now a [[Daemon Prince]], so don't piss him off. He should probably work out more so as to get back into shape, but the fact that he just has to be within a few kilometers for you to die from the toxic emanations sort of renders that superfluous. Still, Typhus got bored with his dad pretty quickly, and decided to go off on a great big Getting Shit Done expedition.

The whole enslavement and broken-by-plague thing has probably hurt Mortarion's motivation a little bit. Whereas Fulgrim, Angron and Magnus all get to have some fun with their Chaos abilities, Mortarion is just stuck in a mess of self-hatred. He's basically ended up like his adoptive father, punishing all his subjects for being too weak to rebel against him- by proxy, punishing himself for his own weakness.

To his credit, he did make himself useful in the Fall of Sanctia in 437.M36 by sending an army of diseased [[Orks]] to soften the planet up, then made their corpses explode into a massive horde of Nurglings when he and the Death Guard landed, wiping out all life in less than a day. (Thanks, [[Phil Kelly|Phil]]!) It's also emerged that he helped Typhus concoct the Plague of Unbelief, which helped raise the curtain on Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. Now if only some [[Lorgar|other]] [[Fulgrim|assholes]] would do some work every now and then...

===The Draigo Incident===

Tl;dr: he got his ass handed to him by [[Kaldor Draigo]] who carved the name of the previous SUPREME GRAND MASTER, Geronitan, into Mortarion's heart.

The Longer story as told by the Audio Drama ''Mortarion's Heart'', Geronitan more or less baited Mortarion and allowed whole sectors to die under the Primarch's massive force (every Nurgle cult and warband within 100 sectors) until he showed up at Kornovin, which is one of the few places the Grey Knights can preform the ritual to bind his soul and kill him for good. It failed due to the fact Geronitan forgot to Wear a helmet so Mortarion just Plague Wind him to death and laughed as the entire Grey Knights Chapter cried (yes this happened.)

After Kaldor got elected, mostly because he's the most expendable Grand Master who's also skilled enough to fight the Death Lord. Grand Master Crom gave Kaldor the true weapon, the name The Emperor gave to Mortarion.

After a laughably short and one sided fight, which was really just Mortarion punching Kaldor in the face over and over again, Kaldor was able to light Mortarion's cape on fire when Mortarion eventually got a hand cramp. Mortarion pauses for a second because that was his VERY favorite cape and becomes distracted enough to allow Kaldor to slip Mortarion's true name into the Death Lord's mind, which causes him to FUCKING EXPLODE somehow, regardless of the fact that in every other instance of true names ever the worst that can happen is your combat stats getting halved. Though it might be because in this case the name itself originated from the Emperor, and anything that has to do with the Big-E will mess up anything Daemonic big time. Kaldor then crawls over to a helpless, nearly broken in half Mortarion and writes Geronitan's name on Mortarion's heart in magic marker.

Just more of the usual stupid Grey Knight circle jerk stuff.

As the 13th Black Crusade grinds on, rumours abound that Abbadon has finally persuaded Nurgle to set Mortarion's alarm clock and got him moving again and '''killing Imperial scum!'''
His fans resent the implication that he's a lazy old fuck, because even though he isn't as active as [[Angron]], he still gets waaaaay more shit done than people like [[Lorgar]] or [[Perturabo]].

----

==Tabletop==
[[File:FW_Mortarion.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Here's his mini teaching all of us how to properly wield a scythe.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

Mortarion is a tough son of a bitch: with the Primarch rule, T/W 7, flat dice wounds like poisoned and fleshbane wound on 6's, rerollable IWND and Toughness tests, 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, he's basically a Gargantuan Creature for all intents and purposes. He negates Maledictions affecting him or his unit on a 4+, ''(which isn't a Deny the Witch, so Adamantium Will doesn't help and you get his 5+ DtW after, though it works out to being exactly the same as nullifying them on a 3+ anyway)'', Death Guard gain Stubborn and Poisoned (4+) on all frag grenades and missiles which is pretty sickening. For weapons he has the Lantern pistol which is almost a pistol meltagun, phosfex bombs (an unlimited supply of them, and he can throw them at double the range!), frag grenades and Silencer, a S7 AP 2 no longer unwieldy power scythe with sweep attacks that causes Instant Death and reroll failed penetration rolls. Great for getting rid of that annoying Praetor or captain. Notable he's also one of the only characters in fiction who knows how the hell you're supposed to hold a scythe!.

Not enough for you? Good, because they also gave him the Shadow Of The Reaper rule. It makes enemy units take a fear check at -1 leadership. By itself in normal 40k rules, it's situationally great, making it pretty mediocre on the whole, but in the pre-ATSKNF 30k setting, it's much more useful. But much more importantly, it gives him a special move in the shooting phase: if Mortarion isn't locked in combat or embarked and doesn't shoot or run, he can take a leadership test and teleport 10 inches away from his current position. It does not count as moving, does not scatter, and does not prevent him from charging (But he does count as making a disordered charge. Not that big of a problem, seriously). There are some other caveats, but he effectively has a minimum 18" charge range without factoring in his base size, and he is fleet to boot. [[Awesome|Because he's fucking terrifying.]]

His model is equally as badass as his rules, if you can get past that he doesn't have a rebreather. Although the designer probably thought that he didn't really need to breathe, and he's probably immune to anything poisonous anyway (on Prospero the Khan had to go in totally suited up, whereas the Death Lord just strolled in dressed just the same as normal, and Girlyman established that Primarchs can breathe in an incredibly thin atmosphere - he can apparently fight in near-vacuum for hours on end without a helmet, because [[Heresy|fuck physics]]). (Even in-universe, Guilliman's ability to fight in the void without a helmet and little oxygen has Imperial scholars going "WTF?")

==Mortarion VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (especially with Mortarion who can mathematically always go the entire game in a Primarch duel), with that in mind this section is how Mortarion fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never changes the outcome of the fights, the winner is still the winner with or without it) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Mortarion VS Horus
**Horus will use Worldbreaker (as wounding on 2's is better than re-rolling to wound) and hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.332 times, 1.666 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight.

* Mortarion VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will instead hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion just barely loses this fight by one turn as his extra wound almost allows him to outlast Angron.

* Mortarion VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 2.666 times (Fireblade)/1.777 times (Laer Blade), 1.333 times (Fireblade)/0.888 times (Laer Blade) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight either by a little or a lot depending on whether or not Fulgrim has Fireblade or not.

* Mortarion VS Ferrus
**Ferrus with Forgebreaker: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1.666 times with Forgebreaker and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.999 total), 0.999 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus with Bare Hands: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1 time with his hands and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.333 total), 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 times at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and damage.

* Mortarion VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins as even though he does less damage he'll outlast Curze.

* Mortarion VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion loses as mathematically he's incapable of harming Vulkan.

* Mortarion VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Mortarion to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Mortarion still beats Lorgar. He also loses to invisible Lorgar Transfigured just like every other Primarch (mathematically he causes 0 wounds to him).

*Mortarion VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.333 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.666 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and 0.222 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins but only if Perturabo doesn't bring Forgebreaker.

* Mortarion VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.568 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.0124 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins

* Mortarion VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.48 times (normal)/1.183 times (Sundering Blow), 0.74/0.59 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0.035 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins in 12 turns as Dorn does a lot less damage in return.

* Mortarion VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
**Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
**Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

* Mortarion VS Roboute Guilliman
**Round 1: Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (With Hand of Dominion), 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Round 2 and after: Guilliman hits 3.333 times (Thanks to Preternatura Strategy), wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.417 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND they become 0.083 wounds.
**Guilliman wins in 8 turns as Mortarion's damage is almost irrelevant.

* TLDR version: Mortarion's good against Konrad Curze, Vanilla Lorgar, Hammerless Perturabo, Alpharius, Rogal Dorn, Corvus Corax and bad against Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Lorgar Transfigured, Vulkan, Perturabo with Hammer and Guilliman, putting him quite in the middle of the road for Primarch duelling.

* Dirty Trick: Use Morturg and put Endurance on Mortarion, if you do this Mortarion can beat everyone (including Lorgar Transfigured) except Horus, Fulgrim (with Fireblade) and Vulkan as his damage output will exceed theirs or his extra wound will allow him to outlast them and/or they will be unable to hurt him at all mathematically. The reason Horus Vulkan and Fulgrim still win is because Mortarion will eventually be unable to hurt Horus thanks to Disabling Strike, Fulgrim just causes too much damage (and some of his attacks ignore FnP) and Vulkan's Instant Death hammer ignores FnP.

</div></div>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:I am the bringer of Death by SharpWriter-1-.jpg|Seriously badass.
File:Mortarion.jpg|''"Not just yet. When Terra is ashes... ''then'' you have my permission to die."''
</gallery>
{{template:Primarchs}}
[[category:Chaos]]

Roboute Guilliman

2016-08-13T22:25:06Z

2602:304:CE19:5A10:7C5C:2793:5FFB:65CE:

[[File:Roboute.jpg|As in most things in his life, Gulliman's portrait is sullied with '''dull surprise'''.|400px|thumb|right]]

''To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.''<br>
— Friedrich Nietzsche

''All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.''<br>
— Sun Tzu

'''Roboute Guilliman''' (A.K.A.: Julius Caesar in Space, Rowboat Girlyman, Rawbutt Jellyman, Rampant Gullytan, Roman Gigglytan, Raw-Rigged Ginger-Fan, Robot Gulliver, Robot Gorillaman, Robust Gilligan, Reboot Gigabyte, Robert Gullible, Big BobbyG, Papa Ultra Smurf, or High Lord Douchebag and Ward's Ever Chosen Robart "Is said to be slowly healing bullshit" Gilmanz,PaPa Smurf) is the [[Primarch]] of the [[Ultramarine]]s in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Thanks to the rabid fanboying of [[Matt Ward]], most of [[/tg/]] hates him, which is sad, because he's actually one of the nicest and most with-it Primarchs, even if he did cling to tradition so much that it made him look like a total jerkwad; this included an inability to deal with "unconventional" tactics, which accidentally turned [[Alpharius|a]] [[Lorgar|few]] Primarchs to [[Chaos]].

In case you're wondering, the audiobooks (at least "the Unremembered Empire") seem to have settled on the pronunciation "Row-BOOT-ay" "GILL-uh-man" [ɹəʊ-buːt-eɪ ɡɪl-ə-mæn].
==Life==

Unlike most worlds that the other Primarchs landed on, Macragge was a pretty perfect and nice place to live on. However it was a Greco-Roman theme so someone like Magnus or even Sanguinius would have been thrown off a cliff for being defective, plus Guilliman was found by a politician while they were on a hunting trip.

Konor was one of the co-rulers of Macragge and took the young boy. Konor was a pretty cool dude, he advocated helping the common man and reforms that would make the world a meritocracy. These were a major influence on Roboute and stayed with him throughout his life. It also says something that Konor's seneschal, Tarasha Euten, was effectively Guilliman's surrogate mother, making him the only primarch to have a conventional family, a fact that twisted Konrad Curze's nipples to no end (which goes double when she tells him to go fuck himself).

One day while Roboute was coming back after fighting the Macragge's version of the Gauls, Roboute came to find his home in chaos. Konor was the victim of some Roman politics. The other co-ruler, Gallan, was pissed off at all these reforms and so just sent his army to rape, pillage and burn. Seeing his once peaceful home burning, neighbors looting and killing each other; left the second major impact on Roboute and the most likely source of why he was always so anal about keeping things in order.

After gutting Gallan and restoring order, Roboute worked to make his father's dream a reality. This was the third major impact on his life: though he claimed that Gallan's death was justice, Guilliman came to realize that it was in fact vengeance, and worked to master his emotional self-control.

By the time the Emperor reached Macragge, Roboute had ruled for five years and turned the world into a place were you had to earn your place, not just be born, like what his father wanted.

===Great Crusade===
Generally Roboute was a classic "Jerk with a heart of gold" he was a total asshole for people he didn't think earned their place, and a great number of people he saw as chaotic and unorthodox (although secretly he had great respect for [[Leman Russ]] and [[Jaghatai Khan]]) but was humble and nice to normal people treating them like equals and very much big on the need to raise the living standards of the Imperium. As a result, many of his brother Primarchs were uncertain about his intentions, and fewer still even liked him. His only friends among the Primarchs were [[Horus]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Ferrus Manus]], and [[Rogal Dorn]].

A good example of this was his dealings with Alpharius. While the common view is that Guilliman was simply annoyed at his younger brother for not having the same tactics as the Ultramarines, in truth it was because Guilliman was thinking ''after'' the battle. While the Alpha Legion's methods were great at messing and breaking an army, they left the world a ruined and chaotic mess with very poor public order and mass unrest. By comparison, the Ultramarines' straightforward tactics ensured that planet was mostly intact, which allowed it to be more easily integrated into the Imperium.
[[File:Know No Fear huge.jpg|400px|thumb|right|''"Lorgar of Colchis. You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell’s mouth."'' - Roboute Guilliman, channeling Bryan Mills.]]
He was an extremely skilled statesman, tactician, warrior and designer, though he preferred to form battle plans rather than actually participate in the fighting himself he still did his fair share of Xeno-killing. In the hopes of passing down some of his strategic expertise, he worked very hard to turn the Ultramarines into an army of thinkers. His primary rule as a commander was "Information is victory", emphasizing that Space Marines needed theoretical (a sound understanding of the tactical situation) knowledge and practical (a means to achieve their objective) experience. Given that battle plans proved to be the first casualty, Guilliman soon realized that he would need to refine his own strategies even as he codified them, lest they fall apart in the chaos of warfare. In spite of that, with over 250,000 legionaries, he managed to achieve compliance on the second highest number of worlds during the [[Great Crusade]], surpassed only by the [[Luna Wolves]]. The planets were also model military worlds, and the Ultramarines would not leave until a modern [[Planetary Defence Force]] was established. He really should've been put jointly in charge of administration post-Ullanor, which would've made premature, excessive taxation of newly integrated worlds a lot easier to avoid (and therefore fewer worlds would have joined Horus' rebellion).

It is also implied in ''Know no Fear'' that Guilliman was maybe a little more tolerant than his father regarding religion, Oll Persson managing to remain a Catholic for 18 years after he settled on Calth (and his neighbors were well aware of his faith). Before screaming "noblebright Mary Sue!", you should know that it fits in with the Roman roots of the Ultramarines, as Romans didn't really give a fuck about what you did at home as long as your loyalty to the Imperial cult was '''absolute'''. But if you placed your private religion above the Emperor's orders, you were badly fucked. So perhaps Guilliman just exterminated the most dangerous cults, kept an eye on the others and chose a unofficial "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Another note was he was one of the few who didn't really see the Emperor as his father, as he was the first to state how shitty the Emperor was at raising kids and never fully forgave the Emperor for using him and his Legion as a tool to humiliate Lorgar.

===Horus Heresy===
When civil war broke out, Guilliman was tricked into taking most of his Legion to Calth for a joint Ultramarines/[[Word Bearers]] engagement. While most of his Chapter Masters believed it was just Horus flexing his muscle, Guilliman realized it was partly political: when the Emperor of Mankind rebuked [[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]] for spreading the ''Lectitio Divinatatus'', he ordered the Ultramarines to sack Monarchia, capital city of Khur, as an example of what would happen to those who continued to defy the [[Imperial Truth]]. Guilliman carried out his orders and didn't show Lorgar any sympathy, but privately confided to some of his officers his discomfort in doing so, feeling that the total humiliation would irreparably damage relations between the XIII and XVII Legions. Guilliman saw this as a chance to mend fences and forge friendships the old fashioned way: by getting Space Marines to kill Orks. Unfortunately, Horus and Lorgar used the Calth muster to kill nearly half the Legion in a surprise attack. When he found out Lorgar's treachery he personally declared to hunt Lorgar down and kill him, only to be attacked by some sort of [[Daemon]]ic proxy and voided onto his flagship. Guilliman did what any other pissed off Primarch would do: go on a rampage against Word Bearers trying to board the ''Macragge's Honour'' by punching them to death. In space. ''For at least thirty minutes without a helmet.'' ([[Dan Abnett]] is still pretty proud of that scene).

Anyway, after the Battle of Calth, Guilliman had to contend with the Shadow Crusade, as Lorgar and Angron tore the 500 Worlds of Ultramar a new one. (Except not really, they razed 26 worlds, just 5.2% of ultramar)

After seeing off the Shadow Crusade, Guilliman decided that if his father could not be saved, His ideals would be, setting up a new government called [[Imperium Secundus]], a second Imperium of Man which would reject Horus's alliance with [[Chaos]]. Although potentially heretical, Guilliman's motives at least ''appeared'' sincere, he made a big hoohah about not taking the throne himself, since he would look like a Tyrant if he did. Fortunately/Unfortunately, the [[Lion El'Jonson|Lion]] arrived at Macragge and didn't like [[heresy|where it was heading]] neither brother trusted the other with the job of ruling the next Imperium. [[Sanguinius]] got the job only to settle the matter between the two and was declared regent of the Imperium in the Emperor's absence, which meant fuck all because he promptly got murdered by Horus in the battle of Terra.

Whatever his intentions, Guilliman led over one hundred thousand Ultramarines to Terra with the [[Dark Angels]] and the [[Space Wolves]], intent on relieving the [[Blood Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]], and [[White Scars]] defending the throneworld. Learning about this and knowing that he could not sustain the assault on Terra anymore once the bulk of the loyalist forces came into the fight, Horus lowered the void shields upon the ''Vengeful Spirit'' in an all-or-nothing gambit to win the war by killing the Emprah in a duel. The rest is history...

==Popular Opinion==
[[File:Robute_Guilliman.jpg|Guilliman as portrayed by Forge World. Also, that face just screams "I'm surrounded by plebeians."...And looks strangely like Mark Strong. Which makes sense as Mark Strong later provided the voice for Titus in Space Marine, thus proving that Mark Strong is a direct descendant Guilliman.|400px|thumb|right]]
{{MattWard}}
Guilliman is mostly hated by the community at large because of [[Matt Ward | Mattards]] Codex: Space Marines. However, it is worth stating that Guilliman was probably one of the most important figures holding the Imperium together after the Horus Heresy. He's pretty much the only Primarch to realize that the Emperor's ideals were more important than the man himself, which is something that [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] kept preaching.

He was also the best Primarch when it came to logistics and organization, which is pretty much one of the only reasons why the [[Imperium of Man]] didn't collapse after the Horus Heresy. He was able to train and equip more than twice as many Marines during the [[Great Crusade]] than any other Legion, and he wrote the [[Codex Astartes]] (still the standard for Space Marine tactics). He is credited with reorganizing the entire governmental and administrative system of the [[Imperium of Man]] (yes, the reorganized Administratum ended up running the galaxy into the ground, but the fact that it's still running at all is a good sign).

However as the Horus Heresy series continues, it is revealed that it was actually [[Malcador the Sigillite]] who had been creating the foundations for the later Imperium. In fact it is continuously being hinted that Guilliman positioned himself to take over the Imperium after the fall of the Emperor, whether through good intentions or through sinister means has yet to be revealed. Funnily enough Kor Phaeron, who hated his guts, identified him as the Primarch best suited to succeed his dad.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:400px">
This is almost explicitly stated in [[Graham McNeill|''Vengeful Spirit'']] and found as an unsurprising revelation in a discussion between Malcador and the Emperor:

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
''"It's Guilliman, what do you think he's doing? He's building an Empire."'' - Malcador

'''"and the Lion goes to stop him?"''' - Emperor

''"So the [[Leman Russ|Wolf King]] says, my Lord, it seems the warriors of the Lion stand with us after all"''

'''"You doubted them?"'''
</div>
</div>

Despite this, Guilliman avowedly claimed that he had no desire to be Emperor and promised his brothers that if the otherwise impassable Ruinstorm abated, he would immediately send his fleet to Terra. That said, the Blood Angels managed to get back to Terra somehow, despite being on the wrong side of it, so it's unknown just how difficult it was to get back.

''Unfortunately'', thanks to 10,000 years of propaganda and exaggeration (and Matt Ward's Codex: Space Marines), Guilliman is ''absolutely perfect'' in every way and treated as ''second only to the Emperor'' through ''the entire Imperium.'' This is bullshit as:
*'''a.)''' [[Sebastian Thor]] is actually the main Imperial saint
*'''b.)''' Although not mentioned often; [[Sanguinius]] is actually the Primarch held in the highest regard, because of that whole "noble sacrifice" thing. ''(Hell, Sanguinius has his own holiday, called the Sanguinala. Horus himself thought Sanguinius was better qualified to be Warmaster than him, which is saying something.)''

Regardless; he is pretty high on the list and the only Primarch whose body is on public display.

[[Fallen Angels|Astelan]], while a prisoner of the [[Dark Angels]] goes into detail explaining how Guilliman was purportedly the ''"greatest"'' of the Primarchs, but only in the context of what the Emperor intended for them. Astelan describes that Guilliman was '''"not the most able-minded, nor as charismatic, and not as physically adept"''' and was the inferior of [[Horus]] in every respect. His greatness came in the fact that Guilliman never once wavered in dedication and service and created his Space Marines to be incorruptible. i.e.: Guilliman and his Ultramarines were the "perfect <u>sons</u>", not necessarily "perfect soldiers".

However, contrary to that, He also did a lot of tricky things in [[Horus Heresy]], like that whole [[Imperium Secundus]] thing, and it's popularly theorized that he was bitter that he never got to be '''Warmaster''', which despite his claims that he had no desire to become Emperor, when he appointed the [[High Lords of Terra]] he nominated himself for the seat of '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''' which was essentially "Warmaster" in all but name, and the titular commander of the entirety of the Imperium's armed forces. So it was a bit hypocritical of him claim that no man should have the power of a Legion, then place himself at the top of the chain of command for all of the [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapters]] that his remaining brothers were left with..

So with that being said, he was no more flawless than the other Primarchs; Even during the Great Crusade, while he was considered to be one of the greatest strategists in the entire Imperium, he was defeated in combat simulations by [[Corax]] of the [[Raven Guard]], having to be taught the lessons that there is no fixed dividing line between non-combatants and soldiers when people are defending their homes; that under-strength units should not be ruled out as ineffective and that small units of adaptable troops can be wielded with just as much effect as larger battalions and chapters. Therefore while he was certainly the Primarch with the greatest mental capacity and adaptability, he was apparently incapable of lateral thinking.

Furthermore, Guilliman stuck closely to tradition, and his unwillingness to adapt to "unconventional" tactics pissed off many other Primarchs, most notably [[Alpharius]]. Also, though the Codex Astartes undoubtedly did a lot of good things, it also had some less-than-perfect tips, plus it's now basically treated as infallible by the Ultramarines ''(at least the more faggot-y ones; [[Captain Titus|there's at least some who take it with a grain of salt and realize where it's strengths and weaknesses lie]])''. It may have contained good advice but by forcing all of his brothers to split their Legions into [[Codex Astartes|Chapters]] it risked a second galactic civil war.

Additionally, although it isn't (entirely) his fault, Guilliman is usually blamed for turning the Ultramarines into such faggots (even though he ''specifically said'' the [[Codex Astartes]] should not be treated as a bible to be followed unerringly, besides the organizational parts, which he forced on his brothers as part of the post-Heresy reforms). Recently he's been increasingly entrusted to the care of the Mighty [[Dan Abnett]] and his faggot level is dropping rapidly. Now, Guilliman isn't portrayed as a power armored Sun Tzu, but as a logistical genius, planning planetary conquest in a way that would leave said worlds in a state that could quickly be returned to order and Imperial rule. His high number of compliant worlds is a direct product of this, helped by his Legion's innate tendency towards discipline, hierarchy and monomaniacal fixation on whatever their objective might be.

This adherence toward a rigid chain of command did end up becoming a double-edged sword later on, since when Guilliman was put into stasis the Ultramarines still tried to follow him (thanks to him being the at the top of the chain) and as such started to forget that the Codex Astartes was only meant to be a guideline, as opposed to a definitive text. More importantly, they slowly lost their ability to adapt to new situations, which was their most famed of traits, until the Tyrannic Wars illustrated the need to improvise new strategies when old ones failed them.

Once upon a time, thanks to the rabid fanboying of [[Matt Ward]], most of [[/tg/]] hated him, but many of them have since come around.

On a side note, he likes Shakespeare's work.

===Suddenly, Forge World!===

[[Image:Girlyman.jpg|400px|thumb|left|[[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Guilliman atop his mighty Oathstone (not seen are the Chapter Serfs who get the honour of carrying him around)!]]]]

When Tempest came out, it immediately forgot that Guilliman's supposed to be just as heavily flawed as the other Primarchs, in Tempest Guilliman is "a paragon among the Emperor's sons", and that he "is as much a statesman as he is an indefatigable warrior." He's also as just as great a strategist, in addition to being the most level-headed, the quickest to react, the smartest and the most analytical, constantly basing new and better designs off of existing materials, as well as refining battle plans thanks to having a mind that calmly and coldly allows him to analyze everything around him and wonder how various things like his marines, his armour and his weapons could all be improved. He observes what other Primarchs do with their warriors makes them better in his own creations, in doing so (specifically copying Perturabo's Siege Tyrants in the rules) they say he's "proving himself once again the master of all of the myriad disciplines of war." This is further evidenced by his rules below where he's the best Primarch at buffing his army, while as a warrior in a straight-up fight he only loses to Horus ''(not counting [[Lorgar|psychic interference]] or Primarchs with a [[Angron|bit of momentum behind them]])''.

In addition Guilliman's Ultramarines during the Horus Heresy were the most disciplined of all the Space Marines as well as the most numerous, the ones who prized intelligence above all to help them formulate the best battle plan, and with the best training/recruitment, not to mention being familiar with the other legions MO's and able to pull them off without any problems which had a lot to do with their rigid chain of command. This goes on to the point that they were considered the biggest threat (before Isstvan) and the book outright states that if the Ultramarines were aware of Horus' rebellion they and their Auxilia would be able to make [[Ultramar|the 500 worlds]] a bastion that by itself, would be able to weather the entire heresy and challenge [[Horus]] for control of the eastern half of the Galaxy. [[Matt Ward|I guess the Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Blood Angels on Terra didn't really try hard enough.]]

A more generous explanation could be that since the books were written after the Heresy in-universe, it could just be a case of "history is written by the winners" kicking in again, since (rather thankfully) "Everything is canon, not everything is true." Or maybe Matt was secretly brought back for that particular book, which would go quite a long way in explaining all of the Smurf wanking in it. It's likely we'll have to wait until the follow-up book on the Shadow Crusade to determine which of those it is. However, none of this is particularly new to the 40k canon; Ultramar was ''always'' considered to have been one of the greatest threats to Horus' rebellion and was the prime reason that the Battle of Calth took place; to get them all in one place and hit them with a surprise attack, and then pin the Ultramarines in place for the duration of the Heresy. The same applies to Guilliman, who has always been considered to have been one of the most intelligent and adaptable of Primarchs, if not the most psychically imposing or gifted with brilliance.

Thankfully he still retains at least one flaw, that being he has no creative spark. He made Perturabo's Terminators better, but he'd never have made them on his own. He made his own versions of power weapons that were far better than regular power weapons as they were more precise/lethal when in trained hands, yet he could only do that after studying countless designs of regular power weapons. Even his own armour is artificer armour that he improved in ways heavily influenced by what Vulkan and Perturabo have made.

On the other side (and that is a good point) Guilliman and the Ultramarines are not as "noblebright" in ''Tempest'' as they can be in other pieces of background. While he promotes meritocracy and refuses to waste any life, Roboute is always described as cold and logical, obsessed by efficiency, and not a kind of crusading philanthropist. FW's Guilliman is first and foremost a statesman and a warlord willing to make the most effective system possible, and ''Tempest'' implies he used a kind of political police of his own (the Vigil Opertii) to silence any opposition in Ultramar. Just like the Imperium does. The only difference with the other Primarchs is Guilliman cannot deny HE is responsible for all the [[1984|authoritarian shit]] happening in HIS private empire. Feel free to think what you want about Guilliman being OP or a Mary Sue, FW still made him more grimdark than before, even if he remains a nice dude by 30k standards.

==Gameplay==
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Roboute Guilliman:''' || 400 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 4+1 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>

True to his legion, Roboute Guilliman is fairly average as far as Primarchs go, both in terms of his stats and his points cost, but it's the rules and equipment you really want him for. He and any unit he joins can re-roll failed charge distances, and the Concussive special rule doesn't do shit against him. All Ultramarines in play gain +1 to Ld while he's in play and he also makes Invictarus Suzerains and Legion Terminators troops as long as he's the warlord. Preternatural Strategy can force opponents to re-roll successful attempts at Seize the Initiative while also granting all units from one entry in the Ultramarines army list Implacable Advance, Interceptor, or Tank Hunters if they don't have it already, and by that they do mean entry, not just one unit, so if you selected Legion Predator Strike Armour Squadron to have Tank Hunters then every Legion Predator Strike Armour Squadron in your army will gain the rule. It also buffs his WS by 1 for each round of combat within a challenge after the first one (e.g. he becomes WS8 on the second round and so on), although it resets back to 7 after the challenge is over or if his opponent swaps out for somebody else via something like Glorius Intervention. Finally, Unyielding Will negates all negative leadership modifiers and allows him to re-roll failed Deny the Witch tests. (Funnily enough, this actually makes him a decent counter for Lorgar's psychic faggotry, though it won't help him deny Lorgars' blessings.)

Guilliman's Armor of Reason gives him a 2+/4++ and the ability to re-roll the first invulnerable save he fails in each phase. (Not per turn, per phase.). As for his weapons, he can choose one of two melee weapons to use in any given assault phase: the Gladius Incandor (a Paragon Blade with Shred) and the Hand of Dominion (a S10 AP1 Power Fist with Concussion). Both of them are Specialist weapons, so regardless of which one he picks he still gets an extra attack. Finally, his gun is the Arbitrator, a S6 AP3 combi-bolter with Assault 2 and Rending- which he might as well have left at home for how often it fires it as he has a Cognis Signum to use instead (+1 BS to a unit instead of firing a weapon himself). Overall, he gives out a nice variety of buffs and can really hold his own in a fight while being one of the best tactician character in the game.

Don't forget, this is all for only 125 points more than [[Marneus Calgar|M.A.C. daddy]], further proof of 30k superiority.

==Roboute Guilliman VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying. With that in mind this section is all about how Roboute Guilliman fares against other Primarchs mathammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it is just too random and unreliable to come into play) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. Also do note that Preternatural Strategy is taken into account (obviously) so prepare to see even more mathhammer than for the other Primarchs.
The Armour of Reason is also reduced to a mere 0,25 reduction of damage, which is weaker than he should, seeing that reduce the first allocated wounds, and not the first failed save, not taking into account the possibility of that wound being saved.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Roboute Guilliman VS Horus
**Horus will use his Talon of Horus (Rerollable 3+ is better than flat 2+, and Disabling Strike can counter the slow-burn effect of Preternatural Strategy) and hits 4 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.778 after saves, than 1.528 for the Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 1.195 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times (Gladius), 0.74 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.4.
**Guilliman loses this fight (Quite appropriately).
**Note: Due to the nature of the fight this match doesn't take into account Preternatural Strategy (Because it is balanced by Disabling Strike). Also do note that after the first few wounds inflicted from Horus, Guilliman will have his WS and S significantly reduced, making it even easier for Horus to win.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, 1.972 after Armour of Reason re-roll and IWND take it down to 1.639.
**Angron Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves, 1.417 after re-roll and IWND will take that down to 1.084 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Angron Round 3 and thereafter: Angron hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 1.25 after saves and 1 after re-roll. Then IWND take it down to 0.667.
**Guilliman Round 1/2/3: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.926 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.59 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 4 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.234 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.9 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Unsurprisingly, Guilliman loses this fight in 6 rounds, dying directly before he's able to kill Angron as even though he has an extra wound on Angron, he takes too much damage.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim Round 1: hits 5.333 times (Fireblade is MC), wounds 3.555 times, 1.528 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.195 at the start of the next turn.
**Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 2.667 times, 1.083 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.75 at the start of the next turn.
**Concussed Fulgrim (cannot happen earlier than round 3): Hits 3 times, wounds 2 times, 0.75 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds.
**Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**An unsurprising loss for Guilliman. If Guilliman chooses to use the Gladius Incandor, Fulgrim will out-damage him in the long run, and if he chooses to concuss Fulgrim, Fulgrim temporarily loses his extra attacks, but Guilliman cannot put out enough damage to keep Fulgrim concussed, meaning Fulgrim gets back up to his normal initiative, gains his extra attacks back, and beats down Guilliman.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.583 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND it becomes 0.25 wounds.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Guilliman Round 2 and after: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Easy win for Guilliman.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Ferrus
**Ferrus: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Forgebreaker and Servo-Harm), 0.792 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.459 at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Hand), 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman wins this fight.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Konrad Curze
**Curze Round 1: hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.25 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.917 at the start of the next turn.
**Curze Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.875 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.542 at the start of the next turn
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.481 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight.
**Note: Konrad could attempt to even the odds with Hit and Run, negating Preternatural Strategy while gaining the +1 attack for the charge (and sniping some wounds with his knives), but so long as Guilliman uses his power fist by the second round of combat Curze will be locked to initiative 1 and will be dead before it's guaranteed he'll be able to leave combat.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves, 0.584 after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.251.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.139 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.37 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**A long as fuck fight, but Guilliman take the win 'cause he does marginally more damage.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 1 time after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.778 times, wounds 1.85 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.48 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.15 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Guilliman to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Lorgar will still lose.
**Note: this doesn't take into account Psychic Powers and with Precognition on Lorgar will easily win. Guilliman's rerollable DtW doesn't do shit, as it only works against witchfires and maledictions, while Lorgar's most powerful spells are blessings.

*Roboute Guilliman VS Perturabo
**Perturabo Round 1: hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.861 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.528.
**Perturabo Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves, 0.583 after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.25.
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Again, Guilliman wins pretty safely. Starting to see a trend here.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.701 times (Remember he has Preferred Enemy), 0.851 wounds after saves, 0.601 after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.268 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman wins really easily, as the damage Alpharius does is almost irrelevant, thus making the claim that he personally killed the lord of the Alpha Legion actually believable...

* Roboute Guilliman VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn Round 1: hits 2.666 times, wounds 2 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Dorn Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.5 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight, taking a lot less damage and dishing out more.
**Note: Dorn doesn't use Sundering Blow because he would actually cause less damage with it.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), causing 1.25 wounds (Scourge)/1 wound (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.917/0.667 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.0833/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.055/0.593 wounds after IWND.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333/2.5 times, wounds 2.963/2.083 times, 1.975/1.389 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.642/1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily win this fight
**Note: Like Curze, Corax could try to use Hit and Run to even the odds, having even more bonus than Curze thanks to his uber-Furious Charge, but unlike Curze it wouldn't work for too long as the second time they fight (whether Corax charges or Guilliman catches him) Guilliman will have him concussed (He's using his fist for a reason) for the rest of the fight and will kill him before Corax can escape again, thus making the strategy not viable against Papa Smurf.

* TL;DR version: Surprisingly, despite being one the best army buffers amongst Primarchs and his generally not outstanding (for a Primarch) stats, Guilliman is actually a beast in 1 on 1 fights if they drag on long enough, beating all but the most specialised Primarchs and mathematically losing only to Horus, Angron, and Fulgrim. Truth is that he's very well balanced with a choice of good weapons for offense, a decent defense and an extra ability that benefits both. He loses when his more balls out brothers just dump damage on him but when he has the chance to let his strategy impact the fight he'll typically win. He'll likely fall down the rankings some when we get Russ and Sanguinius but with his army buffs he'll remain a good choice.
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[[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Space Marines]][[Category:Primarchs]]