Morbidius (Plaguelord)
Morbidius was a Death Guard Plaguelord, who had numerous Warbands under his command.[1a]
History
Sometime after the Great Rift's creation, he sought to conduct a Chaos ritual, that would allow the Death Guard to use the machinery of an Astropathic Choir to spread a plague to other Choirs throughout the Imperium[1b]. Morbidus then chose to begin the ritual on the Imperial world Kalides Prime[1a] and used his fleet to destroy the Imperial Navy warships defending it. The fleet then bombarded the world's capital Dustrious, with ordnance laced with diseases that spread across the world[1c] and began the Chaos ritual[1b]. Afterwards Morbidius led his fleet out of the System, but charged Gurloch and his Warband with claiming Dustrious' Astropathic Choir[1a]. In order for the ritual to be successful though, Gurloch needed to draw out the suffering and misery of the Imperials on Dustrious, who had survived the Death Guard's bombardment[1b]. This was mainly the Cadian 44th Heavy Infantry Regiment, which had been charged with defending Dustrious. If that were the only force arrayed against Gurloch then, Morbidius' plan would have been a success, but the sudden appearance of an Ultramarines strike force, led by Lieutenant Cassian, changed everything. The Ultramarines were part of the Indomitus Crusade, but their damaged Strike Cruiser had been left stranded in Kalides Prime's System, due to a Warpstorm. The only way for them to contact the Crusade, was with the very Astropathic Choir Gurloch needed for his ritual. Soon the Ultramarines made contact with the Cadians[1d] and they fought together against Gurloch's Warband[1b]. Soon the Contagion Lord was dead, and the Ultramarines contacted the Indomitus Crusade, which destroyed Gurloch's Warband. The Crusade then demolished the Astropathic Choir and when Morbidius' fleet returned, they found that Kalides Prime's atmosphere, was now laced with explosive mines.[1d]