Chapter Summaries

Rorschach and Raditus met Forge Master Wesley Fahl, who recognized Raditus as a fellow student of Fastinious. Rorschach attacked Wesley’s mechanical body and destroyed a hidden cable that had transformed into a Chaos-tainted creature, leaving Wesley asking what it was.

• Rorschach and Raditus entered the palace and were led to the enormous mechanical body of Forge Master Wesley Fahl.
• Wesley recognized Raditus and recalled that Raditus had taken part in the ritual that made him a Servitor Skull.
• Wesley explained that he was a native of Triple Fahl and had studied under Master Sage Fastinious alongside Raditus.
• Rorschach charged at Wesley and launched his Metal Ten Rings at him.
• A thick cable sprang from Wesley’s body, and Rorschach’s rings destroyed its transformed, Chaos-tainted form.
• Wesley asked Rorschach whether the creature was a Chaos Demon.

Rorschach discovered that Forge Master Wesley was connected to the Warp and stopped his Terminator Guard from attacking her. After defusing the standoff, he learned that Wesley had once been a human girl and ordered Raditus to help check her for Chaos corruption while the fleet remained on Triple Fahl.

• Rorschach identified the silent cable-like creature as strongly connected to the Warp and questioned Raditus about calling for reinforcements.
• Raditus revealed that it had alerted the Holy Council and transferred Triple Fahl's command authority to Rorschach until its own loyalty was confirmed.
• The Terminator Guard burst into the palace and aimed their weapons at Forge Master Wesley, but Rorschach ordered them to stop and promised to respect Triple Fahl and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Rorschach and Raditus eased the tension with Wesley and ended the incident without a clash.
• Raditus told Rorschach that Wesley had once been a flesh-and-blood girl and said they had been senior brother and junior sister.
• Rorschach ordered Raditus to remain with Wesley and said Astartes chaplains would help investigate possible Chaos corruption while the fleet underwent repairs on Triple Fahl.

Rorschach deployed the Great Whites and Raven Guard to secure Triple Fahl and hunt Chaos threats. When a Martian Archmagos demanded the planet submit to Mars, Rorschach had him killed and took control of the Holy Council, its Sororitas legions, and his battleship.

• Great Whites arrived on Triple Fahl and guarded Forge Master Wesley, while the Raven Guard infiltrated the planet to search for Chaos creatures.
• A Martian Archmagos demanded that Rorschach obey Mars and surrender Triple Fahl's STC templates and technological blueprints.
• Rorschach signaled Tyberus, and the Great White Chapter Master killed the Martian Archmagos with help from Triple Fahl's Archmagi.
• Rorschach declared that the Martian Archmagos had disappeared in a Warp Storm and asked the Holy Council who supported his decision.
• The Archmagi pledged their support, making Rorschach Triple Fahl's true Forge Master and placing the Martian Archmagos's Sororitas legions and Oberon-class Battleship under his command.

Rorschach studied Triple Fahl’s weapons and organized repeated Prayer Support missions against Tyranids while Warp Storms trapped the forge world. After three missions, he had Tyberus bring him a Volcano Cannon and Hellfire Missiles for the next battle.

• Rorschach examined Triple Fahl’s secret weapons, including its Hellfire Missiles and Warlord-type Volcano Cannons.
• Rorschach assembled Terminator Guards, Tyberus’s veteran company, and a Raven Guard squad, then led them through a Warp Portal into battle.
• Rorschach’s force returned from fighting Tyranids with casualties, and Tyberus summoned Tech Sergeants to turn the palace into a temporary battle base.
• After more Prayer Support missions and another Tyranid encounter, Rorschach ordered Tyberus to obtain heavy weapons from Triple Fahl’s Archmagos.
• Tyberus delivered a vehicle-mounted Volcano Cannon and Hellfire Missiles to Rorschach for the next mission.

Raven Guards discovered that Tech-imps might be Chaos informants, but before they could report their findings, a colossal vessel brought Chaos forces to attack Triple Fahl. The defenders fought to contain the landing zone as Adepta Sororitas reinforcements joined the battle.

• A Raven Guard Company Commander suspected Tech-imps were transmitting intelligence from the Forging world to a hidden entity.
• A colossal vessel emerged near Triple Fahl and blasted the planet’s orbital defenses as Chaos drop pods descended.
• Raven Guards ambushed the Sons of the Emperor landing near a Forge Factory, killing some attackers while suffering losses.
• A Noise Marine emerged and killed a Raven Guard with a devastating sonic blast.
• Adepta Sororitas arrived in Ground Vehicles, and Rangers with Arc Rifles covered a charge against the Chaos Astartes.

The defenders of Triple Fahl overwhelmed the Sons of the Emperor’s landing force while fleets and ground defenses tried to stop a colossal wreckage meteor from striking the Forging world. The wreckage broke apart and scattered Chaos Cultists across the planet, who announced the arrival of Vashtorr’s Gear Demon Army.

• Chimeras, Adepta Sororitas Vanguard Troopers, Raven Guard, and Great Whites cut down the Sons of the Emperor until fewer than ten remained, with only a battered Combat Squad still resisting.
• A huge section of the mysterious vessel broke away under fleet bombardment and plunged toward Triple Fahl.
• Carrier aircraft and Triple Fahl’s Hydra tanks, Hunter vehicles, and Sky Spear Sage missiles shattered the falling wreckage, but fragments still struck the planet.
• Chaos Cultists emerged from the wreckage fragments and proclaimed that Vashtorr the Maker’s Gear Demon Army had arrived.

Rorschach learned that Vashtorr's Gear Legion had invaded the Forging world and mobilized the Great White Chapter and allied forces to fight back. As the ground battle turned in their favor, an Omen Ark appeared beyond the atmosphere, and Rorschach ordered his forces to prepare to target it.

• Chief Librarian Kahurangi reported that a Chaos army had invaded the Forging world, apparently guided there by a Tech-imp, and said Forge Master Wesley showed no signs of corruption.
• Rorschach ordered the Great White Chapter, recalled Raven Guard, Auxiliary Troops, Devourers, Adepta Sororitas, and Titan-allied Knight Houses to join the battle, then flew out to the battlefield.
• Adepta Sororitas Vanguard Troopers faced Soul Grinders, Forgefiends, and cultists who fused themselves with machinery to create small Daemon Engines.
• Rorschach attacked the Chaos forces with the Scythe of Blood, Forgebreaker, and Mind Stone, destroying Daemon Engines and larger threats as the Great White Astartes joined the fight.
• Rorschach spotted fragments of derelict ships breaking through the anti-air defenses and an Omen Ark beyond the atmosphere, then ordered the Terminator Guard to bring Raditus and told Tyberus to gather the Astartes at his position.

Raditus reviewed the Forging world's battle preparations and argued with Forge Master Wesley over using Auto-Servitor Robots, but Wesley refused and warned him about the Crimson Protocol. Raditus headed to the front lines seeking the truth about his past, while Wesley revealed that Raditus was once a legendary figure who must remain hidden from Mars.

• Forge Master Wesley reported battlefield losses and the reinforcements and weapons being mobilized, including the Primarch's rescue of a besieged Knight.
• Raditus asked Wesley to arm nearly five hundred thousand Auto-Servitor Robots, but Wesley refused, citing the Crimson Protocol and the risk that Chaos could turn them against the defenders.
• Wesley warned Raditus that he might be exiled from Mars again if he continued researching Abominable Intelligence, leaving Raditus confused because he remembered never having been there.
• Wesley ordered Raditus to the front, where he predicted Raditus would help the Primarch launch a Boarding Action.
• Raditus departed in his miniature Knight Titan after demanding the truth about his human memories, and Wesley revealed that Raditus had been the instigator of the Martian civil war and founder of the Crimson Protocol.

Rorschach ordered Raditus to use an untested teleportation device to send an Astartes force aboard the Omen Ark for a one-way boarding assault. After gathering eighty-eight Raven Guards and Great Whites, he rallied them to destroy the Ark and its Chaos forces.

• Rorschach asked Raditus to calculate the Omen Ark’s coordinates for a large-scale boarding action, and Raditus warned that teleportation errors could strand them in the void.
• Rorschach ordered two-thirds of the Astartes to assemble with Raditus and assigned Tyberus and the Terminator Guard to control the ground battle.
• Raditus activated the experimental teleportation device as Raven Guards and Great Whites gathered around Rorschach.
• Rorschach told the eighty-eight assembled Astartes that their mission was to destroy the Omen Ark and purge its Chaos forces, then distributed Melta Bombs.
• Rorschach rallied the Astartes, who roared their support for him before the boarding operation.

Rorschach and eighty-eight Astartes successfully boarded the Omen Ark, but an unknown interference scattered them throughout the ship. Rorschach led twenty Raven Guard and Great White Astartes into battle against a horde of Chaos Cultists, while a cultist carrying a Melta Mine charged toward him.

• Raditus teleported Rorschach, his Astartes, and his miniature Knight Titan away from the Forging world as the battle continued there.
• The boarding party materialized inside the Omen Ark, but Raditus reported that the Astartes had been scattered across the ship and that Chaos Astartes were present.
• Rorschach advanced through a passage with twenty Astartes from the Raven Guard and Great White Chapters following him.
• Chaos Cultists charged Rorschach's group, and the Astartes opened fire as Rorschach attacked with the Scythe of Blood and Forgebreaker Warhammer.
• A Chaos Cultist clutching a Melta Mine charged toward Rorschach from about a hundred meters away.

Rorschach and the Astartes fought through the Omen Ark as a meltabomb explosion devastated a passage, while other squads battled Chaos forces elsewhere aboard the ship. Rorschach survived the blast and ordered his warriors to continue their assault.

• Rorschach detected a Chaos Cultist's meltabomb and struck it with a Psionic Ray, triggering a devastating explosion that vaporized over a thousand cultists.
• Rorschach used his vibranium wings, Metal Ten Rings, and Mag-boots to shield the Astartes behind him from the blast.
• After the flames subsided, Rorschach declared himself unharmed and led the Astartes deeper into the passage.
• The Third Company's Great Whites fought through Chaos Cultists in a prayer plaza, suffering severe casualties as they searched for a route out.
• Two Raven Guards coordinated to kill Chaos Astartes in an engine compartment.
• Raditus's miniature Knight Titan unleashed a missile barrage and activated its Energy Shield under concentrated enemy fire.

Rorschach and the surviving Astartes fought through Chaos forces and followed a distress call into an ancient hall, where they found a Raven Guard captive. There, Lucius the Undying introduced himself to Rorschach and killed the helpless Battle Brother in front of him.

• Rorschach led the Raven Guard and Great White through Chaos attacks, losing three Battle Brothers and seeing two more badly wounded.
• The survivors fought through successive ambushes and killed more than ten thousand Chaos Cultists by trapping them beneath a collapsing passage bridge.
• Rorschach heard a garbled distress transmission and led thirteen Astartes toward its source.
• Rorschach found a towering Chaos Emperor’s Son holding a broken Raven Guard captive in a hall decorated with human-skin paintings.
• The Chaos warrior killed the Raven Guard, then identified himself as Lucius the Undying and greeted Rorschach as the twenty-second Primarch.

Rorschach ordered his Astartes to withdraw and prepare to destroy the Omen Ark before confronting Lucius alone. He cut his palm and kindled the Scythe of Blood with golden Psychic Flames, then struck Lucius, who retaliated with Ral's Blade.

• Rorschach stopped the thirteen Astartes from attacking and ordered them to evacuate, regroup with Raditus, and prepare to destroy the Omen Ark.
• Lucius mocked Rorschach and revealed his hope of resurrecting through one of the Primarch's descendants.
• Rorschach cut his Vibranium palm on the Scythe of Blood and drenched it with Emperor's Blood.
• Golden Psychic Flames enveloped the scythe as Rorschach charged Lucius.
• Rorschach's burning scythe pierced Lucius's armor and flesh, and Lucius thrust Ral's Blade toward Rorschach's visor.

Rorschach brutally dismembered the immortal Lucius, then left Melta Bombs to finish him and continued alone through the Omen Ark. After the explosions, he sensed that the Ark’s shifting passageways were guiding him toward a mysterious central area.

• Rorschach used his Vibranium armor and Psychic-Flame Scythe to sever Lucius’s arms and carve away his armor and flesh while Lucius begged him to deliver a final death.
• Rorschach taunted Lucius about his poor combat ability, surrounded his torso with Melta Bombs, and left the ancient hall before they detonated.
• Rorschach felt the explosions through the passageway walls and checked that his body had suffered no unfamiliar changes.
• Unable to find the other Astartes in the Omen Ark’s maze of passages, Rorschach followed his instincts and suspected the corridors were guiding him.
• Rorschach entered a broad, mysterious area that appeared to be the core of the Omen Ark and confirmed that the passages had been subtly changing.

Rorschach discovered the Omen Ark’s enormous mechanical core and was confronted by Vashtorr the Maker, who trapped him in his Power Armor. Rorschach rejected Vashtorr’s offer to talk and searched for a way to escape.

• Rorschach explored a circular plaza containing a vast gear-driven array that appeared to power the Omen Ark.
• Rorschach scattered more than a hundred remote-controlled Melta Bombs around the plaza and approached the mechanical array.
• Vashtorr the Maker warned Rorschach not to damage the energy transmission cables, then formed a towering body from the gears and cables.
• Vashtorr transformed Rorschach’s Power Armor into a prison and sealed the passage behind him.
• Rorschach rejected Vashtorr and removed his Skull Helmet while secretly considering how to escape.

Rorschach rejected Vashtorr’s offer of an alliance and a fair Warp contract, then broke free enough to launch a Hellfire Missile at him. As the blast hurled Rorschach backward, he opened a Warp Portal and detonated a Melta Bomb while sending Vashtorr the Master of Mankind’s regards.

• Vashtorr explained that the Cunning Omen Ark had been sent to find the Key and claimed its attack on Rorschach’s Forging world was unauthorized.
• Vashtorr revealed that he was the sixth being seeking a place on the Warp’s chessboard and suspected a bird-man had plotted against him.
• Vashtorr offered Rorschach a Gear Legion, Omen Arks, and other forces in exchange for signing a Warp contract and helping him find the Key.
• Rorschach rejected Vashtorr’s offer, forced one arm free, and fired a Hellfire Missile at him.
• The missile’s blast hurled Rorschach backward, and he opened a Warp Portal before pressing his Melta Bomb detonator.

Rorschach destroyed the Omen Ark’s core and was thrown through a Warp Portal as the ship exploded, but the survivors could not confirm his fate. On the Forging world, Tyberus blamed the boarding force for losing the Honored Primarch, while Raditus stopped him from executing an officer and insisted Rorschach could still return.

• Rorschach’s Hellfire Missile and Melta Bombs obliterated Vashtorr’s head and the Omen Ark’s power core, and the returning Metal Ten Rings shoved the unconscious Rorschach through a Warp Portal.
• Explosions tore through the Omen Ark, destroying its Chaos forces and causing the vessel to collapse before the human fleets.
• The battered boarding force teleported back to the Forging world, where Tyberus demanded to know where Rorschach was and Raditus reported that his life signal was missing.
• Tyberus seized the Great White Third Company Commander and tried to kill him for failing to protect Rorschach, but Raditus blocked the attack and appealed to battlefield discipline.
• Tyberus released the officer, threatened to destroy the Forging world if Rorschach did not return, and charged back into the ground battle while Raditus wondered where the Primarch had gone.

Rorschach survived a catastrophic fall in his damaged Vibranium Power Armor and found himself stranded in a frozen wasteland. After detecting the scent of Chaos Demons, he raced toward them through the blizzard.

• Rorschach woke during a fall, discovered his armor’s servos and wings had failed, and crashed into the frozen ground.
• Rorschach recovered with the armor’s life-support systems and resolved to ask Raditus for protection against future falls.
• Rorschach surveyed the desolate, snow-covered landscape and set out to find shelter.
• Rorschach crossed a field of ice as a blizzard worsened, using Beast Senses to stay on course.
• Rorschach smelled Chaos Demons in the wind, covered himself with a wolfskin cloak, and sped toward them using Shadow Step.

Rorschach found a mining outpost where Chaos Demons had killed a Blood Ravens Combat Squad and charged in to avenge them. A wounded Chief Librarian and Cyrus joined the battle, with Cyrus preparing to detonate a modified Melta Bomb.

• Rorschach spotted Bloodletters and a Nurgle Beast among the dead Astartes at the abandoned mining outpost.
• Rorschach attacked the Chaos Demons with Forgebreaker, the Metal Ten Rings, and the Heart of the Forge.
• A hidden sniper struck the Nurgle Beast in the eye with an orange-red beam.
• The wounded Chief Librarian emerged and unleashed Psychic Spells at the surviving Bloodletters.
• The Chief Librarian called for Cyrus, who rushed into the fight with a modified Melta Bomb.

Rorschach and the Blood Ravens defeated a huge Nurgle Beast, and Chief Librarian Orion recognized Rorschach as an Honored Primarch. Orion explained the Blood Ravens’ uncertain origins and the crisis on Aurelia Prime, while Cyrus warned that someone might have leaked their plans to the enemy; the group sought shelter as they considered the suspicion.

• Rorschach evaded the Nurgle Beast while the Metal Ten Rings distracted it, and Cyrus destroyed it with a Melta Bomb.
• Chief Librarian Orion recognized Rorschach as the Honored Primarch, and Cyrus followed his lead in paying respects.
• Rorschach gave Orion and Cyrus panaceas, and Orion explained that the Blood Ravens did not know their Gene-Father or precise origins.
• Orion revealed that the group was investigating Aurelia Prime after it reappeared from the Warp, where Chaos forces had attacked them and scattered their squads.
• Orion admitted that his command errors had caused the deaths of more than a dozen Battle Brothers, and Cyrus suspected someone had leaked the Chapter’s tactics and plans.
• Rorschach withheld judgment on Cyrus’s suspicion, and the three inspected the battlefield before heading to shelter from the storm.