Ku'Gath
"'Bubonic' implies something very specific. You cannot just use it for a synonym for 'diseased'-"
- – Ku'Gath splitting hairs moments before Saint Celestine scorches his pus-ridden...everything
Ku'Gath is the single most emo daemonic entity in a universe full of immortals with daddy issues. Once, he was but a Nurgling s(h)itting on Nurgle’s shoulder. Whilst Nurgle was mixing his most virulent disease ever, Ku'Gath promptly did a barrel roll, and tumbled from his place on Papa Nurgle's shoulder into the cauldron, where he took a great draught of the lovely contents and swelled with its power. Invigorated, Ku'Gath drank and drank until the cauldron was empty (the fat shit) and he had grown into a Great Unclean One. Nurgle laughed at the antics of his Nurgling, who had become the embodiment of the perfect disease that had been bubbling within the cauldron. Ku'Gath, however, realised that he had robbed his father of the greatest disease ever concocted (essentially making him emo-Obelix), and has since been wandering the universe, searching for the perfect ingredients to recreate the toxin for Nurgle. He also captures the guys he infects and takes them back to his lair, where he can observe their degeneration more closely.
He met Mortarion when the Primarch came upon him crying, in despair, in the Garden of Nurgle. Upon asking why he was sad, Ku'Gath told him about how he became a Great Unclean One. After they talked for a bit, Ku'Gath told Mortarion where he could find his foster father's soul. They bonded over shared daddy issues and even Mortarion, who hates warpcraft, thinks that Ku'Gath is a pretty cool guy and--in words attributed to him--"relateable."
At some point, Ku'Gath was summoned on the Agri-World of Curwen at the head of the Daemonic Legion. A Grey Knights strike force arrived, and Anval Thawn led a force into the very heart of the Daemonic horde to prevent being surrounded. Ku'Gath swallowed the dude whole, but Thawn detonated his weapon inside the Daemon's throat and burst from its body, and unsurprisingly, Ku'Gath was slain and banished back to the Warp. Ku’Gath appears again in M41, when intervention of Styer and his Grey Knights in the attempts of Inquisitor Malia Orbiana to find biological weapons against Orks (which long story short, the Orks were immune to), which led to the manifestation of the Bonewrack disease, Ku’Gath’s once lost infection, in realspace. The Mary Sues managed to defeat Ku’Gath and his horde of Plaguebearers and expel daemons to the Warp, while Ku’Gath himself was wrecked by the blow of Librarian Gared when his Nemesis Greatsword bisected Ku'Gath's head.
He later led Nurgle's forces in the Invasion of Ultramar during the Plague Wars. He actually managed to recreate a disease to replace the one that created him, the soul-erasing Godblight, but a timely intervention of the Emperor put a stop to that. Unfortunately he disobeyed Nurgle's orders during that campaign, causing him to lose his privileged status as Papa Nurgle's favourite son to Rotigus and now he has to hang about for a few millenia to be reincarnated.
Warhammer Fantasy[edit]
Ku'Gath is a little bit different in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. He lacks the daddy issues and here, the reason for him to enter the mortal realm is his desire to create new diseases and viruses, and one day create a disease capable of infecting gods. He hates Dwarfs with a burning passion due to their resilience against disease (and a personal defeat at Karaz-a-karak) so he's made a point to use his new blight on them first whenever he finishes it.
In the End Times he assisted the Glottkin's invasion of The Empire, and was eventually banished in Altdorf by Louen Leoncoeur.
Ku’gath is mentioned a few times in Age of Sigmar, usually as a rival to Rotigus Rainfather, Nurgle’s new favored Greater Daemon. In the most recent Battletome, he appears to have taken on an apprentice GUO named Thrombolhox the Giving, who now leads is own daemonic legion called the Munificent Wanderers.
On the TT[edit]
Total War Warhammer[edit]
Ku'gath is the starting Legendary Lord for the Nurgle faction. A slow BUT TOUGH Lord with access to magic (Lore of Nurgle) and acts as an artillery piece (by yeeting Nurglings at the enemy)! Fitting his title as the Fetid Brewmaster, his unique mechanics allow him to create your own plagues that cause a variety of effects to you and enemies.
Despite being a bloated pile of rotting meat and pus who spends his days making more and nastier plagues, Ku'gath is articulate, perceptive, polite and jovial. In the Realms of Chaos campaign, he's the only greater daemon who does not threaten or bully The Advisor in their introduction. He joins the fight to seize the dying Ursun and use his corpse as a reagent for his experiments.
Ku'gath specializes in buffing Nurglings, his faction effects and unique skill tree both reduce their upkeep, give them regeneration, and buffs their stats, to the point that it gives Ku'gath a cheaper, effective frontline with tier 1 units. You can skip plaguebearers mostly as Ku'gath. His unique skill tree also gives him the capacity to summon Nurglings, more ammunition to his artillery duties, among other things.
In Realms of Chaos, Ku'gath starts in the south part of the Chaos Wastes, bordering Norsca. His first fights will put him against some Ogres and Dwarfs. The real challenge comes from the fact that early on, Kislev will expand near your position. A faction that completely outclasses you given the fact that most of their infantry has range, something that Nurgle has no early-game answer to. You won't be able to deal with them on an even field until you get your Soul Grinders, and that's a long way to go. Not to mention you are a stone throw's way to Kairos, another faction that specializes in range. Tread carefully. In the Immortal Empires campaign, Ku'gath starts on the Dragon Isles, near the Dark Lands. Your expansion in the tropical paradise will lead you to butt heads with Helman Ghorst and his merry band of zombies. And he isn't affected by your plagues. If you beat him, you have Imrik near you doorstep. Joy. After that, it's your choice, really. You can expand in the Dark Lands, go bully the dwarfs, or maybe take a ticket to Cathay.
