Chapter Summaries

Ron tried to stop the Kharozas Dynasty’s war against the Imperium by clearing Phanes Prime’s name and guiding Zabok to redirect the Orb of Eternity’s attack. As new doubts arose over an approaching Imperial fleet, a letter from Holy Terra arrived, and Zabok began to open it.

• Ron scattered parchment leaflets over Phanes Prime, and Zabok learned that the Rift Lords had blamed the bombardment on Chaos traitors and ordered the attacks to stop.
• Zabok used the Supreme Protocol to shift the Orb of Eternity’s aim, sending its Star Fragment past the Imperial fleet to strike a barren asteroid.
• Ron ordered Anselmor aboard the Preacher to assist Phanes Prime’s defense and rescue, while Zabok’s nobles questioned whether the Third Ecclesiarchy Fleet was deceiving them.
• A Cryptek reported a massive unidentified fleet approaching the Phanes System, renewing the dynasty’s suspicion that the Imperium planned to attack.
• The Lord of Whispers arrived with a letter from Holy Terra, revealing that a High Lord had replied to Zabok’s old message, and Zabok descended from his Throne to open it.

Ron’s private letter praised Phanes’s loyalty, then announced that he would visit the planet, prompting Zabok and the Kharozas Dynasty to rush to defeat the invaders and repair the Hive Cities before his arrival. Ron prepared to reach Phanes and claim the Kharozas Dynasty’s loyalty, fleet, and ancient technology.

• Zabok read Ron’s private letter aloud, and Phanes’s people celebrated the Emperor of Mankind’s praise for their loyalty.
• Zabok revealed that Ron planned to visit Phanes and witness its prosperity, leaving the Dynasty nobles and officials alarmed by the planet’s wartime devastation.
• Zabok ordered the Kharozas Dynasty to eliminate the invaders and restore the Hive Cities before Ron arrived, and the nobles divided the war zones and led their forces into battle.
• Phanes’s citizens joined the fighting and repairs as the Necrons pushed back the Orks, Daemons, Flayers, and other suspected heretics.
• Ron hid his Genestealers from the restoration efforts, returned his consciousness to the Dreamer, and prepared for the fleet’s arrival and the takeover of the Kharozas Dynasty’s forces and technology.

Ron prepared for the excavation of the Pharaoh's tomb on Phanes Prime, reviewed the Imperium's affairs, and learned that Guilliman was alive while the search for other Primarchs continued. As Ron slept on the way to Phanes Prime, Zabok and the Rift Lords fought off the Flayers until the Emperor's golden warship appeared above the planet.

• Ron ordered Tako to plan the tomb excavation and a planet-wide evacuation that would avoid provoking the Kharozas Dynasty and limit harm to the population.
• Ron reviewed the Imperium's reforms and defenses, noted the Lion and Jaghatai Khan's work near the Pariah Nexus, and learned that Guilliman had sent a call from the Warp.
• Ron promised Perturabo Blackstone and an Eldar Craftworld, then used a drug to fall asleep as the Dreamer headed for Phanes Prime.
• Zabok led the Royal Wardens against invading Flayers while Anselmor and the Rift Lords fought alongside the Living Metal army.
• Zabok saved Anselmor from the Flayer Lord, and the Flayers eventually retreated.
• Zabok and Anselmor saw the Emperor's golden warship arrive above Phanes Prime.

Ron arrived at Phanes Prime, reassured its damaged population, and secured the loyalty of the Kharozas Dynasty while freeing the Rift Lords from their penitent status. He planned to celebrate the planet’s return to the Imperium before excavating its Pharaoh’s Tomb World legacy, and the Dreamer reported that the excavation plan was ready.

• Zabok and Anselmor hurried to welcome Ron as his fleet descended on Phanes Prime, where the landing pad filled with officials, warriors, and ceremonial forces.
• Ron greeted the injured Zabok with concern, then told him Phanes Prime’s defenders had fulfilled their duties and declared the planet innocent.
• Zabok pledged Phanes Prime and the Kharozas Dynasty to Ron, who promised the planet would return to the Imperium and announced a celebration.
• Ron removed the Rift Lords from the Ecclesiarchy’s penitent rolls and granted them permission to visit the Throne Room on Holy Terra, leaving Anselmor overwhelmed with gratitude.
• Ron considered excavating the Pharaoh’s Tomb World and preparing the campaign against Vigilus, then received word from the Dreamer that the excavation plan was ready.

Ron staged a half-month pilgrimage on Phanes while preparing to evacuate its population and excavate the Kharozas Dynasty’s tomb fleet. As he summoned Phanes’s leaders to explain the plan, he learned that Calgar had been gravely wounded on Vigilus and resolved to uncover the fleet and go there.

• Ron led Phanes’s homecoming pilgrimage as crowds celebrated, unaware that the Imperium planned to evacuate them before activating the tomb fleet destroyed most of the planet’s surface.
• Tech-Priests arrived, warships massed in orbit, and rumors of expulsion and giant bombs unsettled the people of Phanes.
• Ron ordered Zabok to halt Hive City reconstruction, received the Kharozas Dynasty’s tomb data, and learned that excavating the fleet would render Phanes uninhabitable.
• The Archmagos confirmed that the tomb fleet included a roughly thirty-kilometer Cairn-class Tomb Ship, and Ron waited for his Logistics Fleet and engineering teams to arrive before summoning Phanes’s leaders.
• Zabok and Anselmor met on their way to Ron’s urgent summons as the dynasty’s nobles and officials gathered, anxious about what would happen to Phanes.
• Ron learned that Calgar had been gravely wounded and left unconscious on Vigilus, so he decided to uncover the tomb fleet and head there.

Ron persuaded the people of Phanes to accept evacuation by presenting it as a pilgrimage to Holy Terra, while the Kharozas Dynasty prepared to join the campaign at Vigilus. Weeks later, the Tomb Fleet began rising from beneath Phanes as the evacuation and excavation neared completion.

• Ron told Phanes’s leaders that everyone would be transported to Holy Terra, and Zabok accepted the order on the planet’s behalf.
• Ron announced that the Kharozas Dynasty would excavate its Tomb World, activate its fleet, and join the Imperial forces heading to Vigilus after the campaign began.
• News of the pilgrimage spread across Phanes, and the inhabitants celebrated as landing craft arrived to evacuate people and valuable property.
• Ron reviewed the recovered technology and arranged for Phanesians to travel along pilgrimage routes while the Mechanicus excavated the Tomb Worlds.
• Several weeks later, Ron watched from the Dreamer as the ground around Phanes’s Hive Cities and mountains collapsed and colossal green-lit structures rose into view.

The Savior watched the Kharozas Dynasty pledge loyalty before departing for the Vigilus warzone, where he learned that Horus may have returned and Abaddon’s Black Legion was marching on the Imperium. With the allied army nearing its assault, Ron ordered a preemptive strike against the Black Legion.

• The Kharozas Dynasty assembled its tomb fleet and projected declarations of loyalty to the Emperor of Mankind, easing Imperial fears about the xenos fleet.
• Ron ordered the fleet to leave Phanes Prime for Vigilus, where Adeptus Mechanicus vessels began preparing to excavate the evacuated planet.
• Tako reported that Calgar had survived an attack and that witnesses had described his assailant as Horus, prompting Ron to order an investigation into the Warmaster’s possible return.
• Tako revealed that the Black Legion had marched out of Salvador and was likely heading for Vigilus, where it could join the forces already fighting there.
• Ron decided to strike the Black Legion before the general assault, both to weaken Abaddon and to limit Horus’s possible influence over the Legion.

Abaddon tried to destroy Vigilus with a surprise attack, but the Savior’s forces intercepted his fleets and turned the Black Legion against him. As the Legion collapsed and Abaddon fled, the Savior boarded the Planet Killer.

• Eli rallied the Legion of Fear to fight the Black Legion in the Vigilus war zone.
• Abaddon exposed and killed a spy, then set out to destroy Vigilus and restore his authority by springing a trap on the Savior’s forces.
• The Planet Killer emerged at its assembly point into an Imperial ambush, and Abaddon ordered his fleet to fight while awaiting reinforcements.
• Abaddon learned that the Imperium, Orks, Eldar, and Legion of Fear had intercepted his scattered fleets, so he ordered a retreat.
• The Black Legion’s fleets were repeatedly besieged, and many Chaos Warriors defected to the Savior, leaving Abaddon grieving the collapse of his Legion’s purpose.
• An enemy boarding alarm sounded aboard the Planet Killer as the Savior’s presence arrived.

Ron’s edict shattered Abaddon’s control of the Black Legion, but Abaddon escaped the mutiny with the Blackstone Oscillator. Days later, Ron found Abaddon dying in the Withered Wood Forest and suspected Horus had taken the device, putting Vigilus in grave danger.

• Abaddon rejected Ron’s invitation to join a war against the Chaos Gods and ordered the Black Legion to cross a Chaos Storm toward Vigilus.
• Black Legion warriors and Chaos Lords defied Abaddon’s orders and pledged themselves to Ron’s edict, while the Legion of Fear fought on the Planet Killer’s Bridge.
• Abaddon’s personal guards helped him escape through a hidden passage as unknown attackers assaulted the Bridge, and he fled with the Blackstone Oscillator.
• Ron pursued Horus to the Withered Wood Forest and found Abaddon badly wounded among the corpses of Chaos Warriors.
• Ron warned Vigilus that Horus had probably taken the device Abaddon carried and that they faced serious trouble.

Ron saved the mutilated Abaddon and offered him a chance to take revenge on the Chaos Gods by accepting Diablo’s Blood Stone contract. As Ron headed for Vigilus to stop the Blackstone Crown, the Blood Ravens provoked Haarken Worldclaimer with a mocking broadcast, and he charged at Gabriel.

• Ron kept Abaddon alive, learned that Horus and Erebus had taken the Blackstone Oscillator, and offered Abaddon a Blood Stone contract so he could fight the Chaos Gods in the Warp.
• Abaddon accepted the contract, and Ron ordered the Adeptus Custodes to treat him and question him before sending the Blackstone Crown intelligence to Vigilus.
• Ron and the Dreamer set out for Vigilus, where Imperial fleets were arriving amid a massive multi-faction war and the Black Legion guarded the Blackstone Crown.
• The Blood Ravens used hacked Vox Arrays to replay Haarken Worldclaimer’s eighty-day threat and mock the Black Legion for failing to take Vigilus.
• Gabriel appeared before Haarken and taunted him, prompting Haarken to charge toward the fortress with Chaos Raptor warriors following.

Gabriel escaped Haarken Worldclaimer’s assault while the Blood Ravens sabotaged the Blackstone Crown’s power supply and stole Haarken’s Helldrake Spear. After The Savior announced the Black Legion’s destruction and Abaddon’s capture, Haarken vowed to become a new threat, while Ron arrived aboard the Ark of Omen to confront Horus and Erebus.

• Haarken and the Chaos Raptors nearly killed Gabriel, who survived by using relic gear and fleeing through Vigilus’s fortifications.
• The Blood Ravens breached the Black Legion’s defenses, stole its Daemon-steel Neural Cables and a High-voltage Pylon, and disrupted the Blackstone Crown’s power supply.
• The Savior broadcast that the Black Legion had been eradicated and Abaddon captured, devastating Haarken and his warriors.
• Haarken declared that he would lead the Chaos Raptors independently, but discovered that Gabriel had stolen his Helldrake Spear and chased after him.
• Gabriel fled toward the Ork battlefield as Haarken, the Chaos Raptors, and the Heldrake Legion pursued him.
• Ron arrived with an elite Adeptus Custodes force aboard the Ark of Omen where the Blackstone Oscillator was located, expecting to find Horus and Erebus.

Ron and the Adeptus Custodes fought through the Warp-twisted Blackstone Ark to confront Erebus and stop the Blackstone Oscillator from destroying Vigilus. Erebus’s attack failed when the Blood Ravens disabled the Blackstone Crown, but a Blackstone Fortress appeared over Vigilus, threatening an orbital decapitation strike.

• Ron led the Adeptus Custodes through shifting corridors and Warp-made environments, destroying Daemons and rescuing humans trapped in Erebus’s living wall.
• Ron reached Erebus’s Chaos temple and discovered that Horus was absent while the Blackstone Oscillator stood behind the throne.
• Erebus activated the Blackstone Oscillator, but Vigilus remained unharmed because the Blood Ravens had disabled the Blackstone Crown.
• Ron destroyed the throne’s Chaos Force Field Generator and prepared to attack Erebus, who insisted he still had another plan.
• A Blackstone Fortress appeared over Vigilus, and a Cadian Shock Troops soldier recognized that an orbital decapitation attack was imminent.

The Redemption Third Fleet prepared to sacrifice itself to stop the Blackstone Fortress from striking Vigilus, bringing back the Cadians’ memories of Cadia’s destruction. The Savior canceled the martyrdom plan and promised to destroy the fortress himself as a blazing sun appeared in the Void.

• The approaching Blackstone Fortress rekindled the Cadians’ terror of Cadia’s destruction, and Imperial forces warned that it would soon enter low orbit.
• Voladi ordered the Redemption Third Fleet to intercept the fortress at any cost, and the Cadian ships volunteered to lead a plan to slow it through martyr detonations.
• The Cadians prepared to sacrifice themselves, but Voladi’s new order made their ships turn away and cancel the martyrdom plan.
• The fleet commander told the Cadians that The Savior had forbidden needless sacrifice and wanted them to survive and rebuild their home.
• The fleet withdrew to safe airspace as the fleet commander announced that The Savior would destroy the Blackstone Fortress, and a burning sun appeared in the Void.

Ron destroyed the Blackstone Fortress with the Orb of Eternity, secured victory at Vigilus, and captured Erebus long enough to scar and execute him. As Imperial forces occupied the planet, Ron turned to governing Vigilus and considered how to solve the Kharozas Dynasty’s soul problem.

• Erebus mocked Ron as Chaos ships drove the Blackstone Fortress toward Vigilus, but Ron revealed that he would not witness Erebus’s planned destruction.
• The Orb of Eternity fired a Star Fragment that smashed the Blackstone Fortress and the Chaos Fleet supporting it, while the Redemption Third Fleet intercepted debris heading toward Vigilus.
• Ron used Erebus’s sorcery array to reach him, scarred his face and soul, then killed and burned his body.
• The xenos and heretic fleets withdrew, and Imperial forces took control of Vigilus as Ron arrived to oversee its occupation and the excavation of Blackstone.
• Calgar woke after the battle and learned that Vigilus had been retaken; he accepted a thirteen-day recovery course before returning to Holy Terra.
• Ron began handling government affairs and considered the Kharozas Dynasty’s unresolved problem of souls.

Ron struggled to find a way to restore the Necrons’ souls and asked his researchers to gather relevant knowledge. Days later, he cautioned an Ethereal against harsh treatment of T'au commanders and headed to meet the Adeptus Mechanicus researchers at Vigilus.

• Ron considered whether Necrons retained emotions and concluded that he needed expert help to understand their souls and find a cure for the Kharozas Dynasty.
• Ron sent the Xenos Research Institute sages a request to organize their research on the Necrons, then surveyed Blackstone extraction and the Imperium’s recovery efforts.
• At Vigilus, Ethereal Yi Vesa punished Fire Caste commanders for failing to salute the Savior’s statue, and Ron told him not to be too harsh with his compatriots.
• Ron arrived at the Adeptus Mechanicus base to seek research on the Necrons, while Archmagos Saru studied footage of the Orb of Eternity’s attack and hoped to secure funding for his work.

Archmagos Saru hosted Ron’s inspection of his laboratory and received a promise of more funding for the Orb of Eternity research. Ron then visited the Innovation Faction’s base, where research into the Flayer Virus caught his interest.

• Saru criticized the 2D Faction and guided his Tech-priests through their research while preparing his lab for Ron’s arrival.
• Ron inspected Saru’s work on the Orb of Eternity, praised the team, and promised additional research funding.
• After Ron departed, Saru posted a lengthy attack on innovative projects on the Mechanicus Forum, sparking a fierce argument.
• Ron reached the Innovation Faction’s research base and reviewed its unusual studies of Necrons, Flayers, and mechanical life.
• Ron became interested in research suggesting that the Flayer Virus invaded through a boundary between reality and the Warp.

Ron entered the Xenos Biological Research Institute to study the Flayer Virus and deliberately infected a specially prepared Necron-like body. By tracing the virus to Llandu'gor’s lingering memories, he witnessed the C’tan’s final moments and saw the Silent King arrive to confront it.

• Ron inspected the laboratory’s quarantine measures, praised the Archmagos Biologis, and promised continued research funding.
• The Archmagos Biologis explained that the Flayer Virus could infect mechanical beings and had developed a faint connection to the Warp.
• Ron ordered the laboratory cleared, entered a cloned Living Metal body, and exposed himself to the concentrated Flayer Virus.
• Ron examined the virus’s mutations and discovered that it carried memories and remnants of Llandu'gor’s shadow.
• Ron witnessed an ancient vision of Llandu'gor on its throne as the Silent King Szarekh entered the temple carrying the God-Slayer Spear.

Ron witnessed a remnant memory of the Silent King defeating and erasing Llandu'gor, then finished analyzing the Flayer Virus and devised a plan to restore Necron souls through a fabricated god and engineered virus. He ordered research to begin and returned toward Holy Terra with the Kharozas fleet, while Rogal Dorn urged Corax to go back to Terra.

• Ron watched the Silent King and the Necrontyr use the God-Slayer Spear and the Mephrit Dynasty's weapons to erase Llandu'gor, who left a curse before vanishing.
• The Silent King appeared to notice Ron observing the remnant memory, but the vision ended, and Ron completed his analysis of the Flayer Virus.
• Ron concluded he could use a virus and a new god's faith to make Necrons believe their souls were recovering, then ordered the Archmagos Biologis to study Necron emotions and develop the plan.
• The Dreamer led a fleet carrying the Kharozas Dynasty toward Holy Terra, while Ron planned to use the pilgrimage to spread the new virus and faith.
• In the Warp, Rogal Dorn told Corax that they had drifted long enough and should return to Terra.

Rogal Dorn rescued Corax in the Warp and learned that the Imperium had improved under The Savior, but Corax refused to return to Terra with him. Dorn traveled toward Terra in disguise to investigate the Imperium and visit The Emperor, then was stopped while boarding the Pilgrim Ship Redemption 113.

• Dorn pulled the wounded Corax out of a Warp Storm and asked how the Imperium was doing.
• Corax told Dorn that The Savior had improved the Imperium and explained that he was a human empowered and acknowledged by The Emperor.
• Dorn urged Corax to return to Terra, but Corax refused for now because he was investigating a growing Chaos conspiracy.
• Dorn set out alone for Terra, disguised himself as an abhuman, and joined pilgrims boarding Redemption 113.
• Armed guards stopped Dorn as he stepped aboard the Pilgrim Ship.

Rogal Dorn disguised himself as an Abhuman pilgrim aboard the Redemption 113, where the disciplined crew and comfortable facilities challenged his suspicions about the New Imperium. He was stunned to learn that an Ogryn Chapter Master was a celebrated artist, then the ship began to stop unexpectedly, alarming the pilgrims.

• A guard mistreated Dorn, but the Guard Captain disciplined him, apologized, and directed Dorn to inspection.
• Dorn passed quarantine and registered for accommodation, learning that his fabricated home region was not yet included in the New Imperium's citizen registry.
• Clerk Lucilla welcomed an Ogryn and explained that Ogryn warriors had saved her homeworld and that Chapter Master Gauss was a renowned painter.
• Dorn saw Gauss's immense religious painting and struggled to reconcile the Ogryn's artistry with his expectations.
• Dorn settled into the ship's cabin and reconsidered the New Imperium's prosperity and treatment of Abhumans.
• The Redemption 113 began to slow and its lights flickered, prompting a Quetrian pilgrim to fear a Chaos attack or pirates.