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The Traitor Primarchs all had reasons for joining Horus in their attempted overthrow of the Emperor (eg. Lorgar spreading the Primordial Truth, Alpharius Omegon for a major conspiracy to destroy Chaos, etc)

What was Mortarion's reason for joining? (before the Death Guard became Plague Marines)

Well, all the others were seduced by Chaos. But mortarion turned on his own. He wanted greater power so swore his allegence to Horus, but not to the chaos gods. Nurgle trapped im in a warp storm and slowly killed him until he joined Nurgle.

He was pretty close to Horus, his favoured son/1st Captain (Typhus) was already in with Chaos so would be an influence, he had contempt for the weak, appeared to dislike much of what the Imperium came to stand for and felt he was above humans, he never really forgave the Emperor for killing his other father (whilst saving his life), he seemed to crave power (which Chaos can provide) and he was a rather sinister and unfriendly fellow altogether with very little compassion for his brothers or Emperor.

In a nutshell, I think those are some of them IIRC.

Just Dave wrote:He was pretty close to Horus, his favoured son/1st Captain (Typhus) was already in with Chaos so would be an influence, he had contempt for the weak, appeared to dislike much of what the Imperium came to stand for and felt he was above humans, he never really forgave the Emperor for killing his other father (whilst saving his life), he seemed to crave power (which Chaos can provide) and he was a rather sinister and unfriendly fellow altogether with very little compassion for his brothers or Emperor.

In a nutshell, I think those are some of them IIRC.

Agreed, he never really like the emperor or the imperium, so when the heresy came about it was inevitable that he joined

Boy I hope you guys are wrong about Motarion. That would be incredibly boring. I guess the interesting part of it is that he betrayed the Emperor but not because he fell to Chaos ... although that's been done, too (Konrad, Angron). So I hope we get some update on Motarion that is more than just "bad version of Ferrus Manus."

Don't mean to hijack but it seemed to fit here somewhat. Has it ever been explained where or when Typhus became a follower of Chaos?

Reposting my response on the subject from the B&C

Angron and Mortarion were the only primarchs to have failed to take complete control of their homeworlds by the time the Emperor came for them. Angron was moments before a final battle that would most likely have killed him, whereas Mortarion was attempting a final trek up to the mountain fortress of his warlord. In Angron's case, he was plucked out from his soldiers, and we all saw how well he took to that. For Mortarion, he had demanded the right to slay the warlord before going with the Emperor, and failed in his attempt, the Emperor stepping in and killing the man in one strike.

I don't believe any other primarchs came into the Great Crusade with such intense resentment. While it's possible Angron may have simply forgotten about his homeworld once he could comprehend the power that was being handed to him, I don't think Mortarion ever truly recovered from that humiliation.

IA: Death Guard says

Mortarion was a grim, driven Primarch, fixated on reckoning with the oppressors of the galaxy.

The Shadow Journal of Bellerophan, Dark Angels Librarian, confides that, of them all, he found kindred spirits in only two: Night Haunter, the dread master of the Night Lords, and Horus, the Warmaster of the Imperium, the right hand of the Emperor.

The story of his allegiance to the Emperor won through his own failure was by then well-known, and anyone with even a passing familiarity with Mortarion knew that the pallid Primarch chafed at it.

Horus did not need to resort to ritual possession to win the Death Guard to his side. Horus promised that under his rule the old order would fall, and a new age would dawn, a just age with right ensured by the mighty.

So Mortarion was closer to Horus above the Emperor, and due to the way that he pledged the Emperor his allegiance, harboured a resentment against him. Mortarion did not like Tyrants, which I guess also led to some feelings against the Emperor, replacing one on Barbarus for another. He also believed that Horus would be a better leader for the Imperium.

And ironically, he pretty much became a tyrant and like his 'adoptive' father himself...

Just Dave wrote:And ironically, he pretty much became a tyrant and like his 'adoptive' father himself...

Yup, I bet he's nice and cuddly though most of the time, being a Nurgle Daemon prince and all that

jareddm wrote:
Angron and Mortarion were the only primarchs to have failed to take complete control of their homeworlds by the time the Emperor came for them.

Russ never conquered Fenris either. Though that was by his own choosing.

Also, Mortarion had some of the flimsiest reasons for rebelling. This is why he had to get trapped in the warp and extorted into joining Nurgle by Typhus' betrayal. Mortarian waffled on his decision and had planned to open fire on Horus' fleet when they got to Terra.

DarknessEternal wrote:Mortarian waffled on his decision and had planned to open fire on Horus' fleet when they got to Terra.

I do vaguely recall this, is it mentioned in the CCG fluff?

Maybe. It was in Typhus' section in the 2nd edition codex though.

DarknessEternal wrote:Maybe. It was in Typhus' section in the 2nd edition codex though.

Ahh, I will have a look, thank you.

That is a very interesting point, especially when you consider how much Mortarion hated Magnus and witchcraft. He might have liked Horus quite a bit -- and then found out Horus was acting from a magical vision he had. Mortarion: "Oh man, on second thought ..."

Mortarion joinned Horus because he believed in him.

On the way to Terra Typhon killed the navigator and brought down the gellar feilds.

Typhon then told Mortarion that only his psycic powers could guild the ship and save them all.

The Deathguard became the bloated sacks of puss we all know and love.

Mortarion began to die because of all the demonic diseases infesting him.

Nurgle reached out to Mortarion (thanks to Typhus locking him in the warp) and convinced him it was better to serve the powers of chaos than to die a useless death.

He said "okay" and became a daemon prince on the spot.

I believe you can find all that in Codex: Chaos Marines 3.5. If not then it's in one of the index astartes.

DeffDred wrote:
On the way to Terra Typhon killed the navigator and brought down the gellar feilds.

Typhon then told Mortarion that only his psycic powers could guild the ship and save them all.

The Deathguard became the bloated sacks of puss we all know and love.

Mortarion began to die because of all the demonic diseases infesting him.

Nurgle reached out to Mortarion (thanks to Typhus locking him in the warp) and convinced him it was better to serve the powers of chaos than to die a useless death.

He said "okay" and became a daemon prince on the spot.

I believe you can find all that in Codex: Chaos Marines 3.5. If not then it's in one of the index astartes.

That's largely irrelevant to why Morty joined Horus though, as by the time Nurgle trapped him, he had already joined Horus.

Just Dave wrote:

DeffDred wrote:
On the way to Terra Typhon killed the navigator and brought down the gellar feilds.

Typhon then told Mortarion that only his psycic powers could guild the ship and save them all.

The Deathguard became the bloated sacks of puss we all know and love.

Mortarion began to die because of all the demonic diseases infesting him.

Nurgle reached out to Mortarion (thanks to Typhus locking him in the warp) and convinced him it was better to serve the powers of chaos than to die a useless death.

He said "okay" and became a daemon prince on the spot.

I believe you can find all that in Codex: Chaos Marines 3.5. If not then it's in one of the index astartes.

That's largely irrelevant to why Morty joined Horus though, as by the time Nurgle trapped him, he had already joined Horus.

Should have quoted my first line...

Mortarion joinned Horus because he believed in him.

Yeah, that was the part that was relevant.

So close did Mortarion appear to be to Horus, in fact, it is believed that at least two of the other Primarchs, Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines and the ever watchful, ever taciturn Corax of the Raven Guard, approached the Emperor with concerns about where the master of the Death Guard's loyalties lay ... The Emperor is said to have dismissed their concerns with a wave; loyalty to Horus was de facto loyalty to the Emperor.

Silly Emperor

Aaaah, and the Emperor proves his ineptitude once more.

Kind of makes you wonder how he managed to make so much progress in the Galaxy, considering how utterly obtuse and clueless he is half the time.

BlaxicanX wrote:Aaaah, and the Emperor proves his ineptitude once more.

Kind of makes you wonder how he managed to make so much progress in the Galaxy, considering how utterly obtuse and clueless he is half the time.

But it is right though, they are all the Emperors Sons and are all under direct command of the Emperor. It's the reason why Russ believed what Horus told him before the sacking of Prospero. Horus is the Warmaster, the Emperors Warmaster. In hindsight we can see that he was a fool to believe him, but who would question their loyalty before the Heresy took place?

Oh, I think the downfall was he actually found the Primarchs

Agreed. I would've felt similarly if I were the Emperor and I wouldve elected Horus for Warmaster, also.

Poop always hits the fan when Chaos is involved.

Pilau Rice wrote:But it is right though, they are all the Emperors Sons and are all under direct command of the Emperor.

But he wasn't right; as the Heresy showed us. "Under the command of" is completely arbitrary; allegiances change all the time, especially in war.

It's not as if all the Primarchs were happy-go-lucky haha everything is cool we <3 the Emperor he's so kawaii, and then suddenly big bad chaos came around and brainwashed them into hating him. The majority of the traitor primarchs already possessed huge psychological issues, and many of them involved a deep-seated resentment of either the Emperor himself or things the Emperor had done. Thus, Chaos was able to use those psychological issues as a lure to ensnare the Primarchs.

Considering that the Emperor is supposed to be the most powerful and intelligent human entity, possibly even the most powerful and intelligent non-Chaos based entity in the galaxy, he should have been able to notice these psychological issues in his sons, and he should have been able to draw the conclusion that it was at least possible for Chaos, a force that he apparently knows quite well, to turn his sons against him.

He didn't notice any of this until it was too late, which speaks volumes for his ineptitude, if not his arrogance.

Pilau Rice wrote:

DarknessEternal wrote:Maybe. It was in Typhus' section in the 2nd edition codex though.

Ahh, I will have a look, thank you.

I too would be interested to know; it sounds familiar, but I can't find it anywhere.

Edit: I suddenly have the vague suspicion that it might be from the Renegades sourcebook for Epic.

BlaxicanX wrote:....
He didn't notice any of this until it was too late, which speaks volumes for his ineptitude, if not his arrogance.

Unless it was all part of the plan to get himself a super sweet golden throne.