Chapter Summaries

Per commanded the Sword of Vostonia as it destroyed an Ork warship, while Nimrod and Leman Russ disputed control of the Attack Moon. After Russ stopped his fleet from confronting the Eleventh Legion, Nimrod redeployed his forces to secure the moon and continue the campaign against the Orks.

• Per led the Sword of Vostonia in destroying an Ork warship as the Sixth and Eleventh Legions pursued the routed enemy.
• Leman Russ halted the Space Wolves fleet after Nimrod claimed the Attack Moon, then ordered Enoch Lashiven to vent his anger on the Orks and defeat Nimrod's forces.
• Leman Russ's flagship began bombarding the orbital defenses of Planet Five, and Nimrod received reports of the Space Wolves' attack.
• Nimrod ordered the Fifth and 11th Chapter to seize the remaining Warp Gates, sent the 7th Legion to attack an Ork planet, and requisitioned forces from the Third and Ninth Chapter for the Wheel of Fire.
• Nimrod recorded the Attack Moon's technology and ordered its information sent to Necromunda while Rosicky sought interested Adeptus Mechanicus factions.
• Sanchez received Nimrod's orders and prepared to defend the legion's honor by defeating the Wolf Lord.

The 7th Legion attacked Wheel of Fire VII, and Sanchez used the Snakebite Clan’s hunting instincts to lure its Orks into a Promethium-fueled trap. The explosion devastated the Snakebite Boyz, but Silva emerged from the flames and struck down a Shadow of Order.

• Enoch Lashiven ordered the Sixth Legion to land after orbital bombardment destroyed most of the planet’s defenses, then led his warriors into battle.
• Sanchez, Szczesny, and Jorginho identified the Orks as the Snakebite Clan and planned to exploit their Beastbosses’ urge to hunt large prey.
• Silva sent Marco to find the humans’ biggest target, then led the Snakebite Boyz on Squigs toward the enormous decoy wagon.
• Sanchez lured Silva’s force to the wagon and fired a Blazing White Spear into the Promethium drums inside it.
• Sanchez ordered the Shadow of Order to surround and shoot the Orks fleeing the explosions, but Silva charged from the fire and split a warrior and his bike in two.

Sanchez and the Shadows of Order defeated the Snakebite Clan on Planet Seven with an ambush, while Nimrod reviewed the Eleventh Legion’s losses and ordered a visit to inspect the trophies. The chapter ended with Nimrod preparing to travel to Planet Seven and summon forces from the Fourth and 8th Legions.

• Sanchez killed Silva and Marco with fire attacks after Silva charged through the Wall of Fire and Marco fled.
• The Shadows of Order cleared the Snakebite Clan’s camp, collected trophies including Squigs and venomous creatures, and burned Ork corpses to prevent their spores from spreading.
• Sanchez reported to Szczesny and Jorginho that ambush tactics worked against the Snakebite Clan and ordered the Chapters to use the same method.
• Nimrod heard the casualty report, accepted the Legion’s losses, and ordered the Snakebite battle report circulated to commanders for precision strikes.
• After learning that the situation on Necromunda had stabilized, Nimrod ordered half the forces of the Fourth and 8th Legions transferred and prepared a landing ship to Planet Seven.

Nimrod tested Mikel’s Beast Tamer abilities in battle, then used them to help his Brainy Cat endure a monster potion and begin advancing along the Wheel of Fortune pathway. Mikel completed his advancement to Beast Tamer as Nimrod received a vision of the Old Man in Yellow handing him the Spear of Dionysus.

• Nimrod inspected the Snakebite tribe’s venomous snakes as potential ingredients for the Vampire sequence and considered Mikel’s future advancement.
• Mikel led 134 Thunderwolves into battle against Snakebite riders and their Squigs, while the Brainy Cat cracked the Ork boss’s weapon with a Techno-Curse and Mikel killed him.
• Mikel reported that the Thunderwolves could breed in the void, and Nimrod ordered him to distribute them to the 7th Legion, prioritizing the Royal Court.
• Nimrod chose the Wheel of Fortune pathway for his Brainy Cat and had Mikel use his spirituality to ease the cat’s pain as it drank the monster potion and learned meditation.
• Nimrod saw a vision of the Old Man in Yellow giving him the Spear of Dionysus, while Mikel’s spirituality ran low and he completed his advancement to Beast Tamer.

Mikel advanced to Sequence 7, Vampire, and received new duties from Nimrod, who also named the Brainy Cat John and taught him the first layer of Thelema Mindset. After sixteen solar days of preparation, Nimrod led the 2nd and 11th Chapters to attack the Ork construction base on Planet Wheel of Fire II.

• Mikel drank the Vampire potion, adapted to his heightened senses and sensitivity to light, and accepted Nimrod’s assignments.
• Nimrod named the transformed Brainy Cat John, taught him Thelema Mindset, and sensed that John’s mental link provided him with spiritual power.
• Nimrod gathered potion ingredients among the Snakebite tribes and taught the Honor Guard an improved War Mask technique.
• Two Honor Guard members gained a preliminary mastery of War Mask, and Per Koschelny joined the Honor Guard after excelling in void warfare.
• Nimrod left the 5th Legion to garrison the Attack Moon and led the 2nd and 11th Chapters to assault Planet Wheel of Fire II.

Nimrod’s forces planned their assault on Wheel of Fire II, and Per proposed exploiting the Deathskulls’ greed by dropping the captured starport between their fortresses. After the attack began, Per donned the War Mask and killed a heavily armored Ork, while the wider battle remained underway.

• Arsena Dunn briefed Nimrod’s council on the planet’s fortresses, starport, and ring highway, and James and Merson presented their attack plans.
• Wilshire argued that the ring highway mattered more than the starport, while Per proposed dropping the starport wreckage to provoke Deathskulls infighting.
• Nimrod ordered Per to seize the starport and assigned attacks on the planet’s battlefields to himself, James, Merson, and Wilshire.
• Per led five hundred Honor Guard members into the starport and advanced through Ork defenders.
• A blue-armored Ork charged the Honor Guard and killed one member, so Per donned the War Mask and cut the Ork in two with his Power Sword.

Nimrod launched an assault on the Orks after a battle over falling starport wreckage drew their forces together. Wilshire rallied the Honor Guard, led the landing, and killed an Ork boss after spotting a weakness, then wondered if he had used Warp Insight.

• Per's forces tore the starport into pieces and dropped its wreckage onto Planet Two, where Deathskulls Orks fought over the loot and the melee spread among the clans.
• Nimrod waited until the twenty-fifth day of the brawl, then ordered orbital bombardments and an attack on the Orks.
• Wilshire delivered a speech that stirred the Honor Guard into a fervor, and Nimrod reflected that Wilshire suited the Sun pathway but that he still lacked Golden Sunflower for the Bard potion.
• Wilshire led the Honor Guard down in Drop Pods, and they advanced through the Orks under heavy fire.
• An Ork boss charged the Honor Guard and knocked Wilshire aside, but Wilshire spotted a wound beneath its machinery and struck it with his Power Hammer.
• Wilshire killed the Ork boss and wondered whether he had used the Warp Insight Nimrod had taught them.

Nimrod led the battle against the Deathskulls on Planet Wheel of Fire II, defeating their bosses and Killa Kans before organizing the Legion’s Librarius. The Ninth Chapter had arrived and the Third Legion was expected in two days, while Thomas accepted the appointment of Chief Librarian and began establishing the department.

• Nimrod charged the Deathskulls bosses through their gunfire, used Briber: Charm to provoke infighting, and ordered the Honor Guard to target Mekboyz.
• Nimrod killed the Ork boss and destroyed the Killa Kans before pursuing and killing the fleeing Mekboy, whose tools he took as potion ingredients.
• After thirteen days of fighting and purging, Nimrod learned the Ninth Chapter had arrived and the Third Legion would arrive in two days, then ordered the forces to keep clearing the planet while he returned to the Shadow of the Throne.
• Nimrod appointed Thomas Chief Librarian, and Thomas accepted the role in the new Librarius department.
• Nimrod established the Librarius ranks of Lexicanum, Codicier, and Astropathic Officer, and said some members of the Royal Court would also join the department.

Nimrod reorganized the Legions and refined a ritual intended to direct prayers to him through the Kingdom of Disorder. He taught the Seer and Thomas how to create a protected spiritual environment, then prepared ritual knives for them.

• Nimrod appointed Szczesny lord of the Ninth Chapter and ordered the Legions to redeploy around the Attack Moon and Planet Wheel of Fire II.
• The Seer recounted rituals to Vulcan, giving Nimrod material to refine his three-part prayer description.
• Nimrod settled on invocations identifying him as the Black Emperor of the Shadow of Order, sovereign of the Kingdom of Disorder, and king of light and shadow who held the rules.
• Thomas overcame his doubts about prayer and agreed to follow Nimrod's instructions, while the Seer asked whom they would pray to.
• Nimrod explained how to sanctify a ritual knife and use it to construct and then break a sealed spiritual environment.

Nimrod guided Thomas and Arsena through preparations for a ritual invoking the Black Emperor, while a newborn Space Ape arrived. He then used Black Wolf to torment Slau Dha in a nightmare, read his mind, and learned how he could move against the Cabal before returning Black Wolf to the real world.

• Nimrod sent Thomas and Arsena instructions for an unusual altar and incantation, and they concluded that he was the Black Emperor and agreed to pray to him.
• Arsena reported that one of the pregnant Space Apes had given birth, and Nimrod brought the newborn to the Third Layer Space of the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Nimrod ordered Black Wolf to continue tormenting Slau Dha, who fell asleep and relived the Shadow of Order slaughtering Aeldari on a craftworld.
• Nimrod broke through Slau Dha's mental defenses and learned the rune formations Cabal agents used to make contact.
• Nimrod decided to use Slau Dha's failure as an opening to infiltrate and eliminate the Cabal, then brought Black Wolf back to the real world.

Nimrod renamed Black Wolf Freddy and received reports on the Third Legion’s reforms on Mordian, including a steep drop in suicides and the formation of the Mordian Iron Guard. He sent the Third Legion to test itself against five Ork fortresses on the second planet of the Wheel of Fire System, while Wilshire became a Bard in the Second Legion.

• Black Wolf asserted his dominance over John, revealed that he had once been called the Wolf God, and Nimrod named him Freddy.
• Mikhailovsky and Grzegorz reported that the Third Legion had taken control of Mordian and that food relief and reforms had lowered the suicide rate from 1.44 per thousand to 5.2 per ten thousand.
• Nimrod named the selected Mordian Auxilia the Mordian Iron Guard and assigned the Third Legion to attack five Ork fortresses on the second planet of the Wheel of Fire System.
• Nimrod cultivated Honor Guard members into Beyonders and guided Wilshire through drinking the golden Bard potion.
• The Third Legion landed on the second planet as aircraft attacked the Ork fortresses, and Mikhailovsky inspected their defenses.

Mikhailovsky and Grzegorz led an armored assault on the Ork fortress, with the Mordian Iron Guard breaking through its southern defenses and the Third Legion attacking from the north. The Orks activated three Waaagh Towers and launched a powerful counterattack as the battle continued.

• Mikhailovsky planned a four-direction assault, assigning his Second Company to attack from the south, Grzegorz's Third Company to attack from the north, and the 5th Legion to strike from the east and west.
• The Mordian Iron Guard's Malcador Defenders advanced through Ork artillery fire and blasted open the fortress's southern wall, suffering heavy losses while killing thousands of Orks.
• The Third Legion's Shadows of Order poured through the southern breach and cleared firing positions as Ork defenders rushed to reinforce the wall.
• Grzegorz exploited a weakness in the northern defenses and ordered his armored vehicles to attack, using blind grenades and artillery to suppress the Orks.
• Three Waaagh Towers activated, empowering the Orks, who swarmed onto the northern wall and charged the black tanks with powerful Waaagh shells and Shootas.

Mikhailovsky’s forces captured the largest Ork fortress on Planet II after a long assault, and Nimrod reviewed the casualties and assigned the next operations. Nimrod also ordered battlefield tests of experimental hover tanks and prepared to see whether his ritual magic worked.

• Mikhailovsky sent Siege Dreadnoughts into the stalled advance, and they destroyed the Waaagh Towers while his forces swept through the fortress.
• Mikhailovsky defeated an Ork boss who broke free of his poem, then revealed that he had mastered Warp Insight inherited from his gene-father.
• The Third Legion and 5th Legion completed the fortress’s cleansing after twenty-three stellar days, and their commanders reported their losses to Nimrod.
• Nimrod assigned the battered 5th Legion to hold and cleanse the captured fortress, and ordered the arriving Fourth Legion and 8th Legion to attack two other fortresses.
• Nimrod ordered four experimental hover tanks sent to the Third Legion for battlefield testing, while Arsena prepared to perform ritual magic on the flagship.

Arsena Dunn performed a ritual asking the Black Emperor for the mysteries of flame, and Nimrod answered by transmitting the method for drawing the Fire Dragon Rune. Nimrod considered how prayer might enable real-time communication and the transfer of items, then received news that Sanchez had purged the greenskins of System 7 and defeated Enoch Lashiven.

• Arsena prepared the Obsidian Altar on K-11 and performed a ritual asking the Black Emperor for the mysteries of flame.
• Nimrod sensed Arsena’s prayer in the Kingdom of Disorder and confirmed that the ritual connected to him.
• Nimrod sent Arsena the method for drawing the Fire Dragon Rune, and Arsena thanked him while resolving to keep the ritual secret.
• Nimrod considered using prayers for real-time communication and the delivery of special items.
• Two days later, Nimrod received a report that Sanchez had purged the greenskins of System 7 and won the challenge against Enoch Lashiven.

Sanchez claimed the Russ Wolf Helm after defeating Enoch Lashiven, while Jorin reacted to the news by demanding another modification surgery. Thomas settled his Librarium members into their new quarters, then prepared for a ritual and descended to K-33.

• Nimrod ordered Sanchez to collect his reward aboard the Sixth Legion flagship and then visit him on the Shadow of the Throne.
• Sanchez arrived at the flagship, endured the hostility of the Wolf Guard, and was welcomed by Leman Russ, who awarded him the Russ Wolf Helm.
• Jorin heard that Sanchez had won the Wolf Helm and demanded another modification surgery, but the Apothecary refused until his body adapted.
• Thomas brought fifty-two Librarium members to their new study area and instructed the Astropathic Officer to familiarize them with it.
• Thomas prepared with a ritual bath, changed into a black robe, and took the elevator down to K-33.

Thomas’s ritual inquiry about the Heart-Slayer led Nimrod to reveal the truth about Slaanesh and the Warp, triggering a dangerous surge of Slaanesh’s influence as Thomas became a true Seer. Nimrod helped him resist the corruption, then returned to the Kingdom of Disorder to divine a route to Catachan.

• Thomas performed a ritual asking the Black Emperor about the Heart-Slayer, and Nimrod heard his prayer in the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Nimrod sent Thomas information about Slaanesh, the Keepers of Secrets, and the Heart-Slayer’s plan to attack the Aeldari Craftworld Karr-Iss.
• After absorbing the information and becoming a true Seer, Thomas was assailed by Slaanesh’s whispers and temptations.
• Nimrod established a psychic link with Thomas, taught him the first Mindset of Thelema, and blocked most of the illusions until Thomas could raise a wall of will.
• Nimrod instructed Thomas to master Thelema’s second Mindset, teach the first to the other Librarians, and pray to the Black Emperor if he could not resist corruption.
• Nimrod returned to the Kingdom of Disorder and used the Dice of Prophecy to divine the star chart to Catachan.

Nimrod briefed Sanchez on the 7th Legion’s losses and assigned it Catachan as its recruitment world before decorating the Legion for its victories in the Wheel of Fire. After the Legion departed, Nimrod brought a Space Ape aboard an escort vessel for an undisclosed purpose.

• Sanchez reported the 7th Legion’s casualties and received a star chart of Catachan, its future recruitment world, along with orders to travel there and perform a ritual.
• Arsena told Nimrod that many forge worlds and Archmagos were interested in The Moon, while the Lord of the Forge prepared to report in person.
• Nimrod awarded the 7th Legion its Fire Wheel Seven Medals, including a higher-grade medal for Thibault, before Sanchez and the fleet departed for the Mandeville Point.
• Nimrod sent a newborn Space Ape into the Kingdom of Disorder and brought another Space Ape into the real world.
• Nimrod ordered Arsena to prepare an escort vessel with only essential crew, then boarded it with the Space Ape.

Nimrod tested a Simian Field on the escort ship Rio Grande while the Legions fought the Orks on Planet II using experimental parasite-equipped hover tanks. He named the successful vehicles Beast-Slaying Hover Tanks and assigned them to the Third Legion as the Vixatrix knightly house arrived in the Wheel of Fire System.

• Nimrod ordered a Space Ape to apply a Simian Field to the Rio Grande without changing its structure, and the Engine Seer witnessed the barrier form over the hull.
• After confirming Adams had digested the Gravedigger potion, Nimrod advanced him to Sequence 7, Spirit Medium, and sent the Fourth Legion and 8th Legion to attack the Ork fortress on Planet II.
• Grzegorz deployed five experimental hover tanks, whose parasite-filled bullets consumed the Orks and their fungal spores as the Vostonian Rhinos broke through the fortress wall.
• Nimrod reviewed the battle data, named the hover tanks Beast-Slaying Hover Tanks, ordered their mass production for the Third Legion, and instructed the Tech Sergeant to continue researching them.
• Mikhailovsky and Grzegorz used the tanks to break through strong Ork defenses, accelerating the conquest of two fortresses as the Vixatrix knightly house arrived in the Wheel of Fire System.

Wilshire led the Shadows of Order into battle with a song that heightened their speed and strength, while Ward Hitler commanded the Knight Mechs against the Ork fortress. Wilshire killed the Ork Warboss before Ward could reach him, then revealed that he had awakened Warp Insight.

• Wilshire rallied his squad and ten other squads before the assault on the Ork fortress.
• Ward Hitler led twenty Knight Mechs as they battered through the fortress walls and fought the Orks inside.
• Wilshire sang as he led the Shadows of Order through the defenses, empowering them to charge and slaughter the Orks.
• Ward spotted the Ork Warboss and advanced toward him while Wilshire raced ahead to claim the kill.
• Wilshire smashed the Warboss with his Power Hammer, and Ward veered sharply to avoid him as Glory Victory began to tilt.
• Wilshire sensed the Knight Mech faltering and told Ward that he had awakened Warp Insight too.

Nimrod received orders to teach the returned Primarch Hannibal, then reviewed new Legion technology and negotiated offers from forge worlds seeking the Attack Moon. He chose Graia’s offer, adding a demand to share research, and Rosicky advanced to Sequence 7 before the modified frigate was reported ready.

• In 821.M30, Nimrod received the order to teach Hannibal after the Primarch’s welcoming ceremony on Terra.
• Rosicky Czech reported that the Legion had recovered Dark Mechanicum data and learned to construct and operate Warp Gates, which Nimrod ordered built at seven key systems alongside fortress-class shields.
• Rosicky reported progress on Archaeotech Pistols, and Nimrod ordered a batch of samples for mid-level commanders to choose from.
• Nimrod compared the factions’ offers for the Attack Moon and chose Graia’s alliance and supplies, demanding shared research in exchange for sending five Tech Sergeants.
• Nimrod confirmed Rosicky had digested the Archaeologist potion, concocted the Appraiser potion, and Rosicky advanced to Sequence 7.
• The next day, Nimrod learned that the Space Apes had finished modifying the frigate.