My Life as A Death Guard (Warhammer 30K Male MC)

White. Dazzling. Cold. Unforgiving. The light flickered.

The room was bright but far from warm.

Despair had once engulfed this place. It still lingered, though a fragile sliver of hope swayed faintly, sustaining an insignificant glow.

The Primarch sat silently. Somewhere beyond the visible world, his sons were crying out without a sound.

Quiet. The Death Guard was always like this.

But silence was always broken by someone.

"Mortarion, ever since I glimpsed those visions, I've been contemplating how to resist this seemingly predestined fate—how to win in a war against the denizens of the Warp."

What Mortarion and his legion needed now wasn't hollow consolation but actionable advice.

Growing up on Barbarus, Mortarion had always been a pragmatist, not an idealist. He would grasp whatever tools he could use, even those he despised.

With enough leverage, Mortarion would accept Hades's proposal.

"And now, my first answer is: psykers."

"Every human with a soul serves as a conduit between the Warp and the physical world. Among them, psykers are particularly capable of opening interfaces between these realms."

"But that doesn't mean psykers should be purged outright. We need them—to predict the emergence of Warp entities and to gauge the strength of the barrier between the Warp and the physical world."

"Moreover,"

"We need psykers to fight psykers and to combat Warp creatures."

"Considering deployment costs, the only thing that can defeat a psyker is another psyker."

Mortarion slowly lifted his gaze. His amber eyes looked dim under the harsh white light.

"And you?"

Hades froze briefly but quickly continued.

"Blanks are also excellent counters to psykers, but compared to psykers, blanks are harder to find, more expensive to train, and less adaptable on the battlefield."

Hades himself was a rare mutation. Not all blanks could be transformed into Astartes.

Furthermore, blanks' unique traits meant they were only effective in battles involving psykers or Warp entities. Deploying them in other scenarios was far less practical.

After all, blanks could negatively impact their allies as well.

During the Great Crusade, where the primary focus was on xenos and human factions, deploying blanks was more of a long-term investment.

Mortarion silently stared at Hades, deep in thought.

"So, putting aside blanks… we, the Death Guard, need a psyker corps. Psykers with firm resolve can resist the Warp."

There was still resistance in Mortarion's eyes. He thought of those foolish enough to dabble in sorcery and those who ultimately succumbed to madness.

And their power—it ultimately came from the Warp.

That chaotic, insane, and tainted place.

Hades's gaze darkened.

"I know what you're worried about, Mortarion. I'm not trying to defend psykers. In fact, as beings closer to the Warp, psykers are indeed more susceptible to corruption—to becoming… something we all abhor."

"That's why we need oversight and corrective measures."

"This is my second answer: establish commissars—or chaplains—within the Death Guard."

"Call them whatever you like. They wouldn't only oversee the psyche and ideology of psykers but also the thoughts and morale of the entire legion."

Mortarion fell into deep thought. 

Commissars? Barbarus had no such roles. And no other legion had them either.

Commissars existed in mortal auxiliary forces, and Mortarion had always believed that only weak-willed soldiers needed them.

And chaplains? Mortarion knew his brother Lorgar had such figures within his legion, but Barbarus, a land devoid of gods, didn't welcome religion—or chaplains, with their ornate and wasteful presence.

Mortarion furrowed his brow, but the cries of his sons still echoed in the depths of his soul.

"The Warp can corrupt minds. Even if the Death Guard currently embodies resilience and endurance on the battlefield, we still need warriors for the mind and spirit. This is a different kind of battlefield—one the legions have seldom addressed."

"But it's a battlefield we will inevitably face. A foe we cannot avoid."

Were their minds not as steadfast as their bodies appeared to be?

But that despair—like maggots gnawing at his soul—was all too real. It felt terrible.

If Hades, who had foreseen the visions and was a blank, proposed this, he must have thought it through.

Even though Mortarion instinctively disliked these foreign concepts, he was the master of his legion and the father of his sons. He couldn't afford to act on impulse.

Only those who confront reality can emerge victorious.

"Is there truly no alternative, Hades?"

Hades met his gaze, his eyes filled with seriousness and resolve.

"Mortarion, if it were up to me personally, I wouldn't favor this either. But under the current circumstances, it seems we only have one option."

Mortarion paused for a moment before slowly and silently nodding.

"Very well. I accept your proposal."

"The new psyker corps will be called the Undertakers."

They will bring death. They will send enemies back to another realm.

Even if their existence is despised by all.

"And the new division responsible for managing ideology, discipline, and morale will be called the Grave Wardens."

Death's long rest may be granted to others, but not to them. They are the Grave Wardens, guardians of the legion.

They must endure this harsh world, pass on the strength of conviction, and protect the barriers of the mind.

"Alright."

Undertakers. Grave Wardens.

Mortarion slowly mouthed these names in his heart.

Their existence would fundamentally change the Death Guard's destiny.

Hades swallowed hard.

"And then, my third answer is blanks."

Mortarion raised an eyebrow.

"Although blanks are few in number and their training cost is enormous, we still need them."

"For a long time, it will be a losing investment."

"But we need them."

Mortarion spoke aloud the thoughts buried in Hades' heart.

Hades nodded. 

Currently, the Imperium's untouchable forces consist solely of the Sisters of Silence, who follow a formal selection and training process. 

However, for male untouchables, most are scattered across various external departments of the Imperium without any official recruitment or promotion channels.

"If we want to expand the ranks of untouchables, we need to broaden the Death Guard's recruitment sources."

"That is my fourth answer," Hades replied.

"Not only untouchables, but our legion also requires more troops," he added.

Mortarion nodded in agreement. 

Expansion had always been part of his ambition. 

After taking over the legion, Mortarion reorganized it into seven companies, each with a full strength of 70,000 warriors. If the Death Guard reached full capacity, they would boast 490,000 Space Marines.

Currently, Barbarus is the only recruitment world for the Death Guard. In the original lore, Mortarion never sought additional recruitment worlds. 

Hades discreetly blinked, wondering how Mortarion expected to recruit nearly half a million Space Marines from a single world like Barbarus, which wasn't even a densely populated hive world.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines controlled the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar with an efficient administrative system, yet his legion maintained a standing force of only around 250,000.

For the Death Guard to expand, they must secure additional recruitment worlds. During the Great Crusade, acquiring recruitment worlds was relatively straightforward for a legion; with proper handling, newly compliant worlds could be absorbed into the Imperium and assigned to a legion.

Hades speculated that Mortarion in the original lore might have doubted the reliability of recruits from other worlds. However, diversifying recruitment sources, if done properly, could also mitigate regional conflicts within the legion.

The grim future was laid bare before Mortarion and the Death Guard. In the face of life and death, personal preferences had to be set aside.

"Very well," Mortarion said. "Recruiting untouchables and expanding recruitment worlds—I'm on board."

Hades reflected silently. Psykers and untouchables could combat Chaos on the battlefield, while commissars would prevent corruption within the legion. Expanding recruitment worlds was a universally beneficial move.

And then there was productivity. Technology is the primary force of production!

Yet Hades swallowed nervously. Honestly, he had entertained the idea of seeking mentorship from the Mechanicum on Mars, but given recent events, his prior actions had likely severed that possibility. He feared that if he left Mortarion's side now, the Primarch might enact another disastrous scene like earlier.

"Fifth, we need to develop anti-psychic technology and other productivity-enhancing technologies," Hades proposed.

From what he knew, the Imperium during the Great Crusade commonly used anti-psychic suppression collars, relics of the Dark Age of Technology. However, the Imperium had not yet mastered this technology. These devices were recovered by the Iron Hands and the World Eaters, but at this point in the timeline, Mortarion had just returned to the Imperium, and the 12th Legion was still known as the War Hounds.

Even so, it was proof that anti-psychic technology existed. On the other hand, items like the Null Grenades used by the Culexus Assassins came much later, after the Horus Heresy, when the Emperor was entombed on the Golden Throne. Those, for now, were out of reach.

Alien technologies might also offer anti-psychic weapons or psychic-manipulating devices. Hades pondered silently, lamenting that he had wanted to go to Mars to seek a Mechanicum Sage specializing in anti-psychic research. But he decided it was better to send someone else in his place, as he now found himself tethered to Mortarion's side.

For Mortarion, this suggestion was straightforward and easy to accept. Mortarion was fond of experimentation and research by nature. Science and logic were the principles he adhered to, which fueled his disdain for the illogical and chaotic nature of the Warp.

Mortarion grunted, effectively signaling his approval.

Hades' structured analysis had laid out their situation and the countermeasures, replacing the fear of an unknown enemy with clear strategies. He even brought the unfathomable entities of the Warp into the realm of reason, analyzing their weaknesses and countermeasures.

Warp entities were not invincible; they had their own underlying rules. The Death Guard could resist and acquire weapons specifically designed to counter these beings. Reason replaced fear, and Mortarion found himself calculating the execution and impact of these proposals.

This seemed to cover everything possible for the moment. 

Mortarion mused that Hades had indeed touched on all actionable strategies.

But then there was the bleak, chaotic, and hopeless future… No. Mortarion knew he could do something more.

A decision that could genuinely save them—

Mortarion resolved to install self-destruction systems and emergency Warp-exit protocols on the Endurance and all Death Guard vessels. He would link the self-destruction mechanism to his scythe, Silence. If the worst came to pass, he would let the consuming flames engulf everything.

Even if his soul found no peace, at least his uncorrupted sons would find their final death. This might be his last act of defiance and the only thing he could still do for his sons.

Hades would never suggest such a measure, but Mortarion would.

Of course, he had no intention of informing Hades of this plan.

Having come to this conclusion, the suffocating sense of dread finally eased. 

Mortarion lowered the hand that had been clutching his own throat. 

In Mortarion's calculation, the worst-case scenario was the majority resting in fiery oblivion—death as the final outcome.

Even if he found no redemption, it would be enough not to fail his sons.

At this moment, Mortarion felt strangely relieved as he looked at Hades, waiting for him to end the conversation. 

His sons were calling to him; his soul stirred. 

He needed to comfort his shaken children.

Yet Hades' gaze was chillingly cold as he continued to speak.

"Sixth, trust no one."

"Trust no one, Mortarion."

Mortarion froze. "Not even the Death Guard?"

"Not even the Death Guard," Hades replied.

"And what about you?" Mortarion asked.

Hades took a deep breath. "If I am ever corrupted, you must kill me."

"So yes, that includes me."

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