Ignatius Grulgor

Ignatius Grulgor was originally the Commander of the Death Guard Legion's 2nd Great Company. He chose to follow Horus, his traitorous Primarch Mortarion, and First-Captain Typhon's decision to serve Chaos and overthrow the Emperor of Mankind, installing Horus as the true Emperor to rule over the Imperium of Man.

Origins
Ignatius Grulgor was born on the bleak and poisonous world of Barbarus. He grew up on the harsh world, living in the human settlements in the valleys below the foreboding mountainous crags, perpetually wrapped in poisonous fog. These mountains were the home to horrific warlords with fantastic powers and horrific appetites. Grulgor grew up amongst the human settlers eking out a bleak existence, as they lived lives of unrelenting terror. By day they lived beneath the dim sun which never burned completely through the fog, and cringing by the firelight after dark from the terrible creature that moved unseen from above. When at last the Emperor came to Barbarus and discovered the gaunt warrior foundling named Mortarion who lead its oppressed people, he knew he had located the Primarch of the XIV Legion. On the day of Mortarion’s coronation as Primarch, a good majority of the XIV Legion had been of Terran stock, men born on Terra or within the confines of the Sol System, but slowly that number had dwindled, and as new recruits joined the Death Guard's fold they came only from Barbarus. Grulgor was one of those initiated into Mortarion’s Legion from Barbarus. By the last days of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium, only a comparative handful of Terrans remained in the Legion.

During the Great Crusade, Grulgor rose to command the 2nd Company. The Death Guard differed from many of their brother Legions in the manner of their command structure and rank system. Tradition had it that the XIV Legion should never number more than 7 great companies, although those divisions held far more men than those of other Astartes cohorts like the Space Wolves or the Blood Angels; and while many Legions had the tradition of giving the honorific of "First-Captain" to the commanding officer of the elite 1st Great Company, the Death Guard also held two more privileged titles, to be bestowed upon the leaders of the 2nd and 7th Great Companies, respectively. Thus, although they held no actual seniority over one another, Captain Ignatius Grulgor of the 2nd Great Company could carry the rank of "Commander" if he so wished, just as Nathaniel Garro, as Captain of the 7th Great Company, was known as "Battle-Captain."

Grulgor was forever on the edge of arrogance, snarling instead of speaking, judgemental instead of considering. The Commander detested the Terran-borne Garro, feeling that he was unfit to be a Death Guard. His high-handed and superior attitude grated on his nerves. Grulgor felt that Garro thought too much of himself and that he was better than the rest of the Legion, too proud and too good for the rest of them. He often referred to the staunch and reserved Battle-Captain as "Straight-Arrow Garro." Grulgor seemed to reserve his hatred only for Garro, as the other Terran battle-brothers didn't drag the old ways around like rattling chains. Many of the newer Astartes, including Grulgor, inducted from Barbarus felt that before their Primarch had brought new ‘strong blood’ to their Legion, there were many rituals and habits that served only to hold the Death Guard back. Garro had made it a habit to hold onto these outdated traditions, including his habit of keeping a housecarl to attend to his armour and weapons. This was even more of a joke because the normal human that attended him was a former Aspirant who had failed the final trials to become a Death Guard Space Marine. Grulgor boasted that if he had been made First-Captain, the first thing he would do is abolish these outmoded traditions. Commander Grulgor was a staunch loyalist to his Primarch and the Warmaster Horus. Like many of his fellow Barbarus-borne battle-brothers, his loyalty was to the Death Lord first and the Emperor second.

Towards the end of the Great Crusade the tone of things had been strained ever since Horus was injured at Davin and after he returned from his miraculous healing at the hands of the shamans of the Temple of the Serpent Lodge. Upon his return to the orbiting fleet, the Warmaster proceeded to introduce similar 'warrior lodges' into his own Legion, and then others under his command. Horus's fealty had changed, for now he secretly conspired to overthrow the Imperium of Man and usurp the Emperor’s throne, assuming the role as the true Master of Mankind. Renouncing his oath to the Emperor, Horus led his Legion, renamed the Sons of Horus, into worship of the myriad Chaos Gods in the form of Chaos Undivided. He then sought to turn many of his fellow Primarchs to the service of Chaos, and succeeded with Angron of the World Eaters, Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children and Grulgor’s Primarch Mortarion, who were the first of many to follow. Grulgor was a member of the secret warrior lodge within the Death Guard Legion. There had been talk of the Warmaster at second- and third-hand in the lodges. Talk of how far away the Emperor was and of discontent over the commands of the Council of Terra. The Warmaster had already laid the groundwork for initiating a large scale insurrection, on a scale that had never been seen before. He would launch the opening phase of his galaxy-wide conflict known as the Horus Heresy on the Imperial world of Istvaan III.

Istvaan III
The Council of Terra had recently charge the Warmaster with retaking the world of Istvaan III, after the Chaos corrupted Imperial Governor Vardus Praal declared the Istvaan System as an independent principality and seceded from the Imperium. This order played right into Horus’s schemes, furthering his ambitions to overthrow the Emperor. Though four Legions under his direct command had already pledged their allegiance to his cause, there were those undesirable elements, chiefly, Terran-borne Astartes that staunchly served their Emperor and his Imperium. These Loyalist elements constituted approximately one-third of each Legion. Horus personally chose all the units for the assault on Istvaan III’s capital known as Choral City. He picked only the Astartes of the gathered Legions who he and his brothers knew would remain loyal to the Emperor. The virus bombing would rid him of the only obstacle within the Legions to open insurrection against the Imperium.

Before the mission began, First-Captain Typhon pulled Commander Grulgor aside and spoke to him of their Primarch’s desire to bring Garro to the Warmaster’s banner over the Emperor's, but they both knew that Garro would never betray the Master of Mankind. He was too much the Emperor’s dutiful warrior. Realising the First-Captain’s intent, Grulgor deduced that the time for the Traitors to act against the Imperium had arrived, as he saw Horus' intention emerging in the unusual pattern of mission assignments on Istvaan III granted to specific units from the Legions, instead of complete companies. Grulgor realised that the Warmaster sought to isolate those elements of the soon-to-be Traitor Legions that did not share his convictions. When the turning point arrived, Typhon informed Grulgor that there were certain duties that Horus would want him to perform. The Commander relished his part in this conspiracy against Garro, whom he had long found insufferable.

Betrayal
Battle-Captain Garro had recently received grievous wounds on the outermost world of the Istvaan System known as Istvaan Extremis. His wounds necessitated him having one of his legs replaced with a bionic leg. The Legion’s Apothecaries declared him not fully healed and therefore Garro was deemed unfit for battlefield operations. First-Captain Typhon ordered Garro to be stationed aboard the frigate Eisenstein during the assault on Istvaan III, while Commander Grulgor would also be assigned in order to keep a close eye on the Terran-borne officer. The Commander secretly transported a shipment of Life-Eater virus bombs on a Thunderhawk over to the Eisenstein. This biological weapon was a deadly engineered viral strain of extreme lethality which would be used against the Loyalist forces on the planet’s surface. Unknown to the traitorous Commander, he was being secretly observed by Garro’s housecarl and 7th Company Apothecary Merric Voyen. The housecarl ran to the bridge to warn his lord of the Commander’s intentions.

Garro, two his men and the human housecarl confronted the traitorous Commander. Grulgor made a seditious declaration against the Emperor and that only the Warmaster and the Death Lord could command him. He also made known of his willing intentions to carry out the will of Horus and Mortarion. In the ensuing melee that followed, Grulgor took aim with his Bolt Pistol at the preoccupied Battle-Captain but was thwarted by the efforts of Garro’s housecarl who instinctively fired his Stub Gun, causing Grulgor to miss his intended target. His errant Bolter round ricocheted off the metal bulkhead and into one of the fragile glass warhead spheres that contained the lethal virus, releasing its contents into the air. Garro and his two men managed to flee as his housecarl used his remaining strength to launch himself forward and close the blast shield door, effectively trapping Grulgor and his men. The Commander and his traitorous battle-brothers died in agony, suffering the lethal effects of the Life-Eater pathogen. With the Warmaster’s treachery revealed, Garro chose to flee the Istvaan System in order to carry a dire warning to the Emperor on holy Terra.

Plague Marines
During their escape from the Istvaan System the Eisenstein sustained serious damage when they were assaulted by First-Captain Typhon’s capital ship Terminus Est. Once inside the Warp, the damaged Eisenstein attracted the attentions of the Chaos God Nurgle, the Plague Lord, who had already claimed the Death Guard Legion as his future champions and had no desire to see Horus' rebellion against the Emperor suffer a setback. Because the Eisenstein's Gellar Field had been weakened by the damage the starship had sustained during its flight from the Istvaan System, the Dark God was able to insinuate his malign influence into the vessel. Nurgle's power resurrected Grulgor, his dead Astartes and the ship's crew who had sided with him, creating the first Plague Marines. The ensuing battle between the infected Warp creatures and the Loyalist Death Guard aboard the ship resulted in the death of the vessel's only Navigator. Grulgor, using a Plague Knife, managed to infect a member of Garro's command squad, the young Battle-Brother Solun Decius, with the terrible daemonic disease known as Nurgle's Rot, and almost triumphed over Garro. However, Garro ordered the Eisenstein to make an emergency transition out of the Warp. Without access to the infernal power of Nurgle sustaining them within the Immaterium, Grulgor and his corrupted brethren were killed, their souls sucked back into the Warp. But Father Nurgle was not yet done with his servant Grulgor.

Resurrection
In 999.M41, shortly after Abaddon’s 13th Black Crusade, the Imperial Mining World of Medusa V in the Ultima Segmentum was engulfed in a worldwide campaign of slaughter and attrition by the various enemies of mankind including: Chaos, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Necrons, Orks and Tyranids. The resurrected Grulgor was now a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. He led a detachment of Death Guard Chaos Space Marines in an attack upon the beleaguered planet. During one infamous battle of the conflict Grulgor led his Plague Marines against the Monastery of Madrigales, a monastery of incalculable value to the Imperium. The Daemon Prince and his minions made short work of the Imperial Guard troopers that garrisoned the doomed monastery. Leading the speartip of the assault, Grulgor and his pestilent traitor Astartes breached the outer gates, taking less than an hour for them to completely overrun the monastery. The Daemon Prince and his forces withdrew after infesting the interior with corruption and pestilence, slaying the entire Astropathic choir and removing the invaluable databanks. Somehow they managed to spirit themselves off world.