Deathshroud

The Deathshroud were the elite Battle-Brothers of the Legion who served as Primarch Mortarion's mute bodyguards during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. Great secrecy surrounded this elite cadre - their numbers being chosen from amongst the ranks of the Death Guard Legion - singled out and personally selected by their Primarch for their bravery and valour. Once chosen, the selected Battle-Brother would foreswear their former life as a common rank-and-file Astartes, swearing binding oathes of secrecy as one of the secret dead. They would be listed as killed in action to allay any suspicions as to their true iden tity, forever concealing their faces by always wearing enclosed helmets, masks or hoods. Their identity known only to their Primarch himself, even in the event of their death.

The Deathshroud wore Artificer-crafted Terminator Armour of the highest quality, presenting a foreboding appearance with their barrel-chested appearance and like their Primarch, wielding large power scythes called Manreapers. It was the Deathshroud's sacred duty to never stray more than forty-nine paces from Mortarion, with two Deathshroud customarily escorting the Primarch at any given time, though there may have been more hidden in the shadows. These stoic warriors presence was quite intimidating, standing uniformly at attention, still as statues. But in battle they were equally frightening, whatever the odds, they always moved inexorably towards their target, like automated killing machines.