Chapter Summaries

Rogal Dorn joined a retired veteran and armed pilgrims in resisting a Red Corsairs assault on their ship, and was astonished by the New Imperium’s well-armed, disciplined civilians. The Chaos attackers were driven back, and the chapter ended as a War Angels battle barge appeared after the enemy warship exploded.

• Dorn tore a metal bed rail free for a weapon, but the veteran explained that the ship’s cabins had emergency armament under new safety rules.
• The ship announced a Chaos attack, and the veteran organized armed pilgrims as the ship’s weapons and defenses engaged the invaders.
• Dorn advanced with the pilgrims and saw them defeat heretics with disciplined fire, while an Imperial Knight and heavy turrets held the main deck.
• The Chaos commander ordered a retreat after repeated assaults failed, but discovered that his warship had exploded.
• A War Angels battle barge appeared before the retreating Chaos forces.

Rogal Dorn witnessed the War Angels crush a Chaos attack on the Pilgrim Ship and felt renewed hope in the Imperium. After the battle, the War Angel Captain noticed Dorn among the pilgrims.

• The Scarlet Battle Barge rammed and destroyed the Chaos warships, while Dorn watched the Imperium's overwhelming strength with exhilaration.
• War Angels teleported onto the Pilgrim Ship and joined its defenders in slaughtering the Chaos boarding force.
• The Chaos Commander escaped with his remaining warriors, but the Battle Barge destroyed their escape craft after heavy Torpedoes cleared their hiding places.
• The pilgrims celebrated victory, and Dorn joined them, reflecting on their joy and hoping humanity could again be filled with hope.
• The War Angel Captain apologized for the attack and described the Redemption Fleet's security sweep, then spotted Dorn among the crowd.

Rogal Dorn hid his identity aboard a Pilgrim Ship, passed a routine inspection, and experienced the New Imperium’s prosperity and rewarding treatment of its loyal citizens. The ship stopped to salute the passing Savior, Ron Grant, who began addressing the pilgrims over the broadcast.

• The War Angel Captain briefly suspected Dorn’s unusual size, but orders to assemble and welcome the Emperor led the War Angels to leave after requesting a routine report on him.
• Dorn stabilized the Forbidden Relic’s disguise and passed the ship guards’ inspection, then accepted candied fruit from the friendly Guard Captain.
• Dorn joined the pilgrims’ disinfection, meal, and celebration, observing the New Imperium’s abundance and hearing how citizens and veterans earned recognition for their service.
• The Pilgrim Ship stopped during the banquet, and the captain announced that Ron Grant’s flagship had passed nearby and that the Savior wanted to encourage the pilgrims.
• The Savior’s voice came through the ship’s Sound Generator array as Ron Grant began addressing the pilgrims.

Ron used the Imperium’s systems to govern from the Sanctuary, reassured The Emperor, and prepared simultaneous campaigns against Chaos and the Necrons. On a pilgrim ship, Rogal Dorn realized that the Savior’s authority had eclipsed The Emperor’s and stood alone when the crowd knelt to the Savior.

• Ron recorded a message praising the pilgrims aboard Redemption 113 while his virtual image appeared across the Imperium.
• The Emperor lamented that he had little time left, and Ron urged him to hold on until the Guardian Project was complete and promised to rebuild Rome for him.
• Ron said the Imperium would use Blackstone technology against Chaos and an Emotion Virus with faith deception to fracture the Necrons.
• The Savior’s projection praised the pilgrims, and Rogal Dorn noticed that they worshipped the Savior while The Emperor’s image was absent from the cathedral.
• Dorn suspected the Savior might be repeating Horus’s betrayal, then stood alone as the pilgrims knelt and a veteran warned him to salute.

Rogal Dorn arrived in the Solar System and discovered that the New Imperium had dismantled the defenses he had built and that the Phalanx was missing. As a pilgrim explained that the Adeptus Mechanicus had taken the fortress away because it was too old, Dorn faced an even greater shock about what had happened to his Imperial Fists.

• Dorn worried that the Savior had monopolized Imperial power, but knelt and saluted the Savior's statue to avoid being arrested by the Discipline Squad.
• Dorn's pilgrimage ship entered the Solar System, where he saw the Savior's enormous image projected across the stars above Holy Terra.
• Dorn realized that the Solar System's space-fortress Defense Array and dockyards had disappeared, replaced by the Savior's Mechanical Sentry Stations.
• Dorn searched for the Phalanx and found no signal, then demanded to know where it had gone.
• The short veteran recalled news that the Adeptus Mechanicus had taken the Phalanx because it was too old.

Dorn learned that the New Imperium had dismantled the Phalanx and turned its wreckage into a garden sanctuary, leaving him fearful for the Imperial Fists and furious at the loss. Meanwhile, the Imperial Fists discussed their rivalry with the Iron Warriors and the coming counterattack against Chaos before an urgent summons brought them out of the hot springs.

• A short veteran showed Dorn old news reporting that the New Imperium had dismantled the Phalanx to study its technology, and Dorn worried about what his sons had endured.
• The chapter revealed that the Phalanx wreckage had become a garden sanctuary and Holy World for the Imperial Fists, whose warriors were enjoying a thirteen-day recuperation period on Holy Terra.
• Tor Garadon told his warriors that the Imperial Fists would compete with the Iron Warriors through engineering skill rather than violence, while the Imperium prepared for a counterattack against Chaos.
• Garadon and the Imperial Fists considered how Dorn’s return might worsen the rivalry with Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, despite the Savior’s efforts to prevent conflict.
• A sudden call to assemble interrupted the warriors’ hot-spring rest, and the Imperial Fists rushed outside with solemn expressions.

Tor Garadon led the Imperial Fists’ Third Company into a brutal Hell Challenge to impress Calgar and win Ultramarines engineering contracts, while Necron ships approached the Imperial Palace and Dorn disappeared after arriving on Holy Terra. The chapter left the challenge underway and the Necrons nearing their target.

• Tor Garadon brought the Imperial Fists to the Hell Sauna Park, where he hoped they would earn the Ultramarines’ respect and secure defensive construction work.
• The Imperial Fists and Ultramarines began the Hell Challenge, with warriors enduring the Super Fascia Blade Hell at high intensity as Calgar watched.
• Necron landing craft carrying warriors of the Kharozas Dynasty entered the atmosphere and flew toward the Imperial Palace region, where Iron Warriors were building defenses.
• The Pilgrim Ship Redemption 113 docked at Lion's Gate Spaceport, and the pilgrims saw Holy Terra for the first time.
• The short veteran praised Holy Terra’s beauty, then discovered that Dorn had vanished.

Rogal Dorn left his pilgrimage group to secretly reach the Golden Throne, but Lion's Gate Spaceport's extensive modernization and security thwarted his plans. After eventually finding an ancient passage toward the Emperor, he emerged days later in a jungle near the Himalazian mountains, furious at The Savior.

• Dorn slipped away from the pilgrims and tried to use Lion's Gate Spaceport's old secret passages to reach Terra's underground network.
• A service announcement revealed Dorn's disguise and led patrol guards to reunite him with the short veteran who had reported him missing.
• Dorn witnessed the spaceport's overwhelming defenses destroy a Chaos Daemon and decided not to force his way through.
• Dorn took the Space Elevator to Terra, left the pilgrimage group, and found an ancient tomb passage leading toward the Golden Throne.
• Several days later, Dorn stood battered in a jungle near the Himalazian mountains and cursed The Savior as insane.

Dorn struggled across Terra’s transformed defenses and wildlife park, finally reaching the Imperial Palace only to discover Iron Warriors working under Perturabo’s banner. Meanwhile, Ron brought Necron nobles to the palace for a covert religious scheme, then received a warning from the Machine Goddess about anomalous Psyker Network data.

• Dorn found that Ron had replaced Terra’s underground networks and cities with a tourist Holy Land protected by extensive defenses, and he struggled to infiltrate it.
• Dorn crossed a lightly defended jungle barrier, unaware it was a dangerous wildlife park, and fled from its beasts without using weapons that might reveal him.
• Forrix oversaw the Iron Warriors’ construction of a secret defensive project near the Imperial Palace, drove off Daemons, and greeted Ron during an inspection.
• Ron brought Zabok and other Kharozas Dynasty Necrons to the palace, intending to implant the Emotion Virus and use staged miracles to establish a new religion.
• The Machine Goddess alerted Ron to anomalous data in the Psyker Network’s monitoring archive.
• Dorn escaped the wildlife park, saw the Iron Warriors’ banner beside the Imperial Palace, and feared the Imperium was in danger.

Rogal Dorn mistook the Necrons and Iron Warriors near the Imperial Palace for a rebellion and rushed to secure the Golden Throne, while Ron identified the intruder as likely Dorn and tried to prevent a confrontation. The chapter ended as Ron flew toward the outskirts after hearing the forces clash and sensing Chaos energy gathering.

• Dorn sent an emergency alert, summoned the Imperial Fists, and charged toward the Imperial Palace's fortification Control Core to defend the Golden Throne.
• Ron and Xiao Ling reviewed surveillance footage and determined that the disguised Big Guy was probably Rogal Dorn.
• Ron ordered Xiao Ling to conceal the footage from Perturabo, called on Lion and Jaghatai Khan to identify Dorn, and told the Kharozas Necrons to avoid armed conflict.
• Ron summoned Imperial Fists units and hurried toward the flight platform to intercept Dorn before he entered the Imperial Palace.
• A roar sounded from the outskirts, and Ron realized the Iron Warriors had engaged the intruder as Chaos energy began to build.

Dorn mistook the Iron Warriors’ warp construction project for a heretical conspiracy and rampaged through the site, prompting an emergency response across Holy Terra. As the Savior’s forces mobilized, Forrix and the Iron Warriors looked to the Savior’s arriving banner for protection.

• Tor Garadon ordered the Imperial Fists’ idle warriors to hurry to the Imperial Palace, while the Supreme Alert sent Dante, Terra’s defenses, the Phalanx Guards, and other forces into action.
• Dorn broke into the Iron Warriors’ construction site and smashed machinery as Forrix tried to protect the valuable warp equipment and called the Adeptus Custodes for help.
• Forrix and the Iron Warriors formed a defensive line, but Dorn crashed through them before a heavy drill knocked him aside.
• Dorn accused the Savior of betraying the Imperium, destroyed the Savior’s statue, and caused further losses at the site.
• The statue’s alarm triggered the nearby armed forces, and the Savior’s Honor Banner rose as Forrix appealed for the Savior to deliver justice.

Rogal Dorn tried to reach the Imperial Palace and rally loyal forces against the Savior, but the Imperial Fists, other Chapters, and the Custodes all sided with the Savior. The Custodes attacked Dorn as a rebel, leaving him fighting to prove that he was the Emperor’s loyal son.

• Dorn used a relic device to map a route through the Palace defenses and rampaged through an Iron Warriors worksite to draw rebel forces away from his path.
• Imperial Fists Thunderhawks flew past Dorn toward the Savior’s banner, and their exhausted warriors collapsed near it, convincing Dorn that his sons had betrayed him.
• Blood Angels and Ultramarines forces also gathered beneath the Savior’s banner, deepening Dorn’s doubts about whether any loyalists remained on Terra.
• Adeptus Custodes Ares Gunships attacked Dorn and forced him into view while the Iron Warriors cheered their arrival.
• Carter Crowley ordered Dorn to surrender as a rebel, then led the Custodes in attacking him despite Dorn’s claims that he was the Emperor’s son and had sent the Supreme Alert Signal.

Rogal Dorn broke free of the Custodians and fought his way toward the Imperial Palace, convinced that the Savior had usurped the Imperium. Ron arrived with an overwhelming force and offered to take Dorn to the Golden Throne, leaving Dorn shaken by the possibility that the Imperium belonged to the Savior rather than The Emperor.

• Carter and the Custodians restrained Dorn after he destroyed the Savior Statue, but Dorn broke free, crushed Carter’s Relic Spear, and fought through several defensive lines.
• Carter repeatedly rose to oppose Dorn, then stepped aside under the Savior’s orders and told him he could enter the Imperial Palace if he disarmed and submitted to supervision.
• The Savior’s forces surrounded Dorn with legions, aircraft, fortress platforms, and Emperor Titans, while the New Imperium cut off the Phalanx Guards’ routes to support him.
• Ron arrived, prepared to disarm and restrain Dorn, and had an Imperial Fist urge his gene-father to cooperate.
• Dorn saw Ron and the assembled Imperium forces and questioned whether Terra belonged to The Emperor or the Savior.

Ron defeated Dorn through repeated armor and force-field upgrades, then restrained and persuaded him that the Emperor and Golden Throne were safe. As Ron pointed out the Chaos damage from their battle, his Psyker Power warned him that a Warp rift had opened in the construction area.

• Dorn opened a hidden gate toward the Imperial Palace, but Ron teleported in to block his escape and challenge him.
• Dorn attacked Ron, whose layered force fields and drop-pod armor repeatedly repelled him and allowed Ron to counterattack.
• Ron changed through thirteen sets of external armor and weapons until Dorn was exhausted, surrendered, and collapsed.
• Ron had Dorn treated, restrained with Blackstone Shackles, and given a powerful anesthetic before reassuring him about the Emperor and the Golden Throne.
• Ron warned Dorn about the Chaos danger in the damaged construction area, but a Warp rift appeared there and unleashed raging Fel Energy.

The Iron Warriors’ failed warp project opened a dangerous rift near the Imperial Palace, and Ron blamed Dorn while keeping him restrained. As Chaos forces poured through, Dorn tried to free himself to defend the Palace, while the first Greater Daemons realized they had emerged on Terra.

• The Iron Warriors’ Heavy Warp Equipment collapsed, releasing Fel Energy and opening a rift as Ron ordered defenses around the worksite.
• Ron told Dorn that his mistake was like Magnus’s, refused to release him, and promised to handle the crisis himself.
• The Imperium’s forces formed defensive lines as a bone-covered inverted peak appeared above the rift and Greater Daemons gathered.
• Dorn quietly worked free of his restraints, intending to fight beside Ron and atone for his mistake.
• Kairis the Defiant and Valox the Lord of Deception emerged from the rift, recognized the Imperial Palace on Terra, and welcomed the chance to torment humanity there.

Ron confronted a Chaos daemon horde gathered near the Imperial Palace, and his fearsome reputation caused the Greater Daemons to surrender rather than fight. The daemons agreed to withdraw, while the Imperial forces watched the Savior’s dominance and began to believe the Imperium could reclaim territory in the Warp.

• Ron projected a golden phantom before the Imperial Palace, and his aura terrified Kairis the Defiant and the assembled daemons.
• Valox the Lord of Deception knelt, surrendered his staff, and begged Ron to spare him.
• Kairis tried to rally the Greater Daemons, but they backed away and refused to fight, so he also knelt and offered to withdraw his armies.
• Ron watched the daemons drop their weapons and submit, while Imperial warriors celebrated the Savior’s victory and imagined humanity’s expansion into the Warp.
• Valox praised Ron’s mercy and hurried to leave, fearing the Chaos Gods might turn the site into a battlefield.

Ron ended the Chaos Daemons’ invasion of Holy Terra by ordering them to withdraw, then had the exhausted Dorn anesthetized and taken for treatment. As Ron dealt with the damage and heard about the Necron threat near the Pariah Nexus, Perturabo sent an angry message after seeing Dorn’s return.

• Ron spared the Chaos Daemons and ordered them to leave Holy Terra without damaging public property.
• Ron had Carter shoot Dorn with an anesthetic dart, and Imperial Fists carried Dorn away for medical treatment.
• Ron allowed Forrix and the Iron Warriors to continue the Warp project, requiring them to repay their losses and letting them take the Chaos weapons as salvage.
• Ron told Lion and Jaghatai Khan to build fortresses around the Pariah Nexus while he prepared a special army to confront Silent King.
• Perturabo sent Ron an insulting edited image of Dorn and asked whether Dorn had returned.

Ron used propaganda footage and research funding to keep Perturabo from confronting the returned Rogal Dorn, while the Chaos Gods and Erebus prepared a surprise assault on Terra using stolen defense data and the Light of Shadow. The chapter ended as the Golden Throne stirred and its psychic pressure spread across Holy Terra.

• Xiao Ling revealed that footage of Dorn kneeling before the Savior’s statue had already spread across the Imperium, and Ron ordered the broadcast removed where possible.
• Ron sent Perturabo an edited image suggesting he had beaten Dorn, easing Perturabo’s resentment and persuading him to postpone revenge while he researched the Eldar Craftworld.
• Ron secured Perturabo’s cooperation by approving substantial funding and projects that would keep him at his research base for years.
• On New Dragon Forest Planet, Erebus told the Chaos Gods that the retreating Greater Daemons had helped lower Ron’s guard and that stolen data exposed Terra’s defenses.
• Erebus prepared the assembled Light of Shadow to seal The Emperor’s power as Chaos planned a surprise attack on Terra.
• The Golden Throne’s activity intensified, sending an oppressive psychic disturbance across Holy Terra.

After recovering in Sanctuary Sanitarium, Rogal Dorn learned that The Emperor had awakened and wanted to see him. Ron brought Dorn to the Golden Throne, where the Emperor’s furious psychic power frightened him into asking for armor at the last moment.

• Dorn awoke from a nightmare, discovered that his wounds had been healed, and admired the restored grasslands outside the ward.
• Ron visited Dorn, explained the grassland’s purpose, and told him The Emperor had awakened and wanted to see him.
• Dorn agreed to meet The Emperor without protective armor, while Ron arranged medical precautions and armored himself in Blackstone gear.
• Ron and Dorn reached the Imperial Palace as The Emperor’s psychic power shook the Golden Throne hall and alarmed Dorn.
• Dorn felt the Emperor’s fury and asked Ron whether he had any armor he could wear before entering.

Ron brought Dorn before the Emperor, who mistook him for a threat like Magnus and violently attacked him. Ron intervened with his miniature Golden Throne to shield Dorn, but Dorn had already collapsed unconscious.

• Ron encouraged Dorn to face the Emperor, but the Emperor's angry voice startled Dorn as they climbed the throne steps.
• Dorn noticed the Emperor's damaged skeleton, and Ron blamed the Golden Throne's strain while concealing that he had used the Emperor's bones to forge weapons.
• The Emperor's projection welcomed Dorn, then accused him of concealing his wrongdoing and unleashed a brutal psychic assault.
• Ron used the Warp machinery in the Throne Room to block the Emperor's attacks and protect the gravely wounded Dorn.
• Ron called on Dorn to withdraw, but saw that Dorn had already passed out on the floor.