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Ku'gath Plaguefather is a Great Unclean One obsessed with perfecting the ultimate disease to honour Nurgle.
He carries a bloated, pus-filled cauldron of Nurgling-laden filth, from which he hurls living plagues. His ambition is to create a disease so perfect that it will infect every living thing in the galaxy. He experiments on captive victims in his lair in the Garden of Nurgle, and his plague legions have fought the Grey Knights repeatedly. Ku'gath Plaguefather is a unique Great Unclean One driven by an endless quest for the perfect plague. He began as a tiny nurgling in Nurgle's garden. One day he fell into the god's cauldron and drank the whole brew, which turned him into a Great Unclean One. In the 40k setting he has fought the Grey Knights on several occasions and led Nurgle's daemons in the Plague Wars of Ultramar.
Origins
He began as a Nurgling who sat on Nurgle's shoulder and pitied mortals for their suffering.
According to legend, he was once a Nurgling who sat on his master's shoulder and grew in stature as he devoted himself to the god's work. Nurgle rewarded his devotion by making him a Great Unclean One. Since then he has sought to repay his god by creating the perfect plague.
Key events
- Was summoned by Thousand Sons sorcerers during the Siege of Terra.
- Led a plague legion in the Gheistos Cataclysm.
- Fought Grey Knights on the agri-world Curwen.
- Returned to fight in Sanctus Reach against Justicar Styer's Grey Knights.
- Led Nurgle's legions in the Plague Wars of Ultramar.
- In the Siege of Terra, after the Lion's Gate Spaceport fell, he joined the daemonic assault on the Colossi Gate before White Scars Stormseers and the Custodes banished the daemons.
John French's Saturnine places him among the Greater Daemons the Thousand Sons summoned during the Siege of Terra, sent against the Palace's Colossi Gate before Stormseers and Custodians destroyed them. The novella Sanctus Reach: Maledictus shows Inquisitor Malia Orbiana searching Squire's Rest for bioweapons to use against Orks, which brought back his long-lost Bonewrack plague. Librarian Gared ended that incarnation by splitting his head with a Nemesis sword. In the Dark Imperium trilogy Nurgle gave him a portion of his own cauldron, and he set out to brew a poison that could kill Guilliman. On Parmenio the Primarch killed his lieutenant Septicus, but Ku'gath collected some of Guilliman's blood there.
In Godblight he used that blood to finish his masterpiece, the Godblight, then disobeyed Nurgle's order to withdraw, hoping for glory alongside Mortarion. His plan was to drag Ultramar into the Garden of Nurgle using the cauldron and Guilliman's death. On Iax he crushed a Space Marine strike force, but Colonel Odrameyer rammed him with a Leman Russ and drove a power sword into his skull, and the Militant-Apostolic Mathieu destroyed his share of the cauldron. While he regenerated in the warp, Rotigus told him that he had lost his place as Nurgle's favourite.
Battles & campaigns
- Curwen (927.M41): Justicar Thawn banished him from inside his own throat.
- Squire's Rest (998.M41): His favourite pestilence, Bonewrack, was released into realspace.
- Iax, Plague Wars: He led the Plague Guard of seven other Greater Daemons alongside Mortarion.
Personality
Melancholy and obsessive, devoted to his plague.
He is melancholy and obsessive, falling into gloom whenever one of his plagues fails. Yet he is also strangely affectionate towards his victims and his Nurglings, seeing his diseases as gifts. His despair is a form of devotion, and his single-minded quest has made him one of Nurgle's most dangerous servants.
Codex: Chaos Daemons (6th edition, p. 51) describes him as sombre, studious and observant, unlike his jolly kin, because all of that serves his search for the perfect disease. Guy Haley's Dark Imperium: Plague War adds that he is a pessimist and a worrier who complains that Nurgle's plan for Iax will fail. Uniquely among Nurgle's daemons, he hates music and furiously silences the Plague God's warbands when they play near him. Godblight notes that despite his power he dislikes fighting and avoids personal combat when he can. He rides a palanquin carried by straining Nurglings and loaded with his mobile laboratory, and the mites budding from him each carry a different infection he can throw at the enemy.
Weapons & Vehicles
The corroded, pus-dripping combat blades of the Death Guard Plague Marines, so saturated with Nurgle's supernatural contagions that a s…
The colossal, rust-pitted two-handed battle scythe of Daemon Primarch Mortarion, forged on Barbarus and steeped in the soul-rotting pla…
The one-eyed, rotting lesser daemons of Nurgle, endlessly counting their god's diseases.
Tiny, mischievous daemons of Nurgle that swarm over the battlefield, biting, tripping and smothering their foes.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (3)
Grandfather Nurgle creator · Chaos DaemonsKu'gath is one of Nurgle's Great Unclean Ones, endlessly brewing plagues in the hope of pleasing his grandfather.
Mortarion fellow servant of Nurgle · Death GuardBoth took part in the Plague Wars, in which Ku'gath led Nurgle's daemonic legions alongside Mortarion's Death Guard.
Typhus fellow servant of Nurgle · Death GuardTyphus's splinter fleet and Ku'gath's daemon legions both served in the Plague Wars against Ultramar.
Factions
- Chaos Daemons primary faction
Related units (3)
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Ku'gath is a Great Unclean One forever seeking to perfect Nurgle's ultimate plague, and forever sinking into melancholy when his creations fall short. His repeated clashes with the Grey Knights and his part in the Plague Wars show how the Plague God's servants combine affection and horror. To Ku'gath, every sickness he spreads is a gift. His repeated invasions of the Imperium make him one of the Grey Knights' most persistent daemonic foes. Ku'gath's hunt for the perfect plague never ends, and neither does his rivalry with the Grey Knights.
Appearances & sources
- Codex: Chaos Daemons
- Codex: Grey Knights background
- The Gathering Storm / Psychic Awakening background