He thought back on his life. He thought of the xenos foster father who had penned humans like livestock. He thought of how he had rebelled against his foster father, been struck down, and then saved by The Emperor. All at once, he felt that his life was somewhat... ridiculous?
Mortarion's mind was a complete mess. After holding it in for a long while, he finally answered his sons. "Perhaps I'll be forgotten? That would be nice too..."
The Death Guard exchanged looks. They understood Mortarion's psychological vulnerability very well, but they did not look down on him because of it. On the contrary, it was precisely because Mortarion had such weaknesses that the Death Guard had remained a united whole even after falling to Nurgle.
Mortarion had let down many people, but he had never let down the Death Guard. He might not have been particularly qualified as a Primarch, but as a father, he was far more worthy of following than The Emperor.
The Death Guard had always taken their fall to Nurgle rather philosophically. The Milky Way had become a place filled with rage and hatred amid its endless wars. Compared to that, the Garden of Nurgle could still be considered peaceful and tranquil.
The veterans all remembered the nightmare of Barbarus. Even after becoming Space Marines and gaining ten thousand years of combat experience, they could not forget that planet, worse than hell itself. Beneath the tyranny of poison gas and xenos, people's souls were extinguished as they hid and scurried about like frightened animals, groping blindly for a way out.
Mortarion had liberated them. Wearing armor made in a tiny rural village and wielding a massive scythe meant for harvesting crops, he drove back their enemies time and time again. Under Mortarion's leadership, they had