Chapter Summaries

Gabriel and DuCaine led Clan Soragu toward an ancient ruin, but first fought Clan Avernii in a convoy battle on the way. Soragu won the artillery duel and reached the target mountain range as the Month of Iron approached.

• DuCaine taught Clan Soragu about its duty to guard Medusa’s resources, and Gabriel learned that Adams had located another ruin.
• Gabriel and DuCaine ate together, then set out with Soragu’s convoy to destroy the monster occupying the ruin before the Month of Iron began.
• Clan Soragu encountered Clan Avernii, and Avernii opened fire on Soragu’s convoy.
• DuCaine directed Soragu’s Iron Carriages through a coordinated artillery exchange, gaining the advantage over Avernii.
• Clan Avernii retreated after ten rounds; one Legion warrior and ten Avernii clansmen died, and DuCaine ordered no pursuit.
• Clan Soragu traveled on to the target mountain range.

Amadeus DuCaine and Gabriel led Clan Soragu into the mine, where Adams and the Shadow of Order fought flesh Monsters with startling efficiency by targeting their weak joints. After Medusa’s Month of Iron disaster passed, DuCaine told Adams that Ferrus Manus had ordered them to join a campaign against the xenos Flao, though the Fourth Legion had not been summoned.

• DuCaine led Clan Soragu into the mine, where his warriors and the Shadow of Order fought a horde of flesh Monsters.
• DuCaine saw Adams and more than ten Shadow of Order warriors kill the Monsters rapidly by striking their vulnerable limb-connection points.
• The Month of Iron began, and gravitational disasters destroyed ships and reshaped Medusa while the group sheltered in the ruin.
• Gabriel emerged the next day and saw that a nearby mountain had vanished during the disaster.
• DuCaine told Gabriel that Ferrus Manus had ordered them to join forces against the xenos Flao, and he expressed disappointment that Adams and the Fourth Legion had not been summoned.

Gabriel joined the Iron Hands in testing the Simulacrum Sanctum during the campaign against the Flao in the Cydonia System. He adapted to its vast stream of fleet data and watched the Iron Hands’ calculations guide the 52nd Expedition Fleet through a decisive attack.

• Nimrod ordered the 33rd and 52nd Expedition Fleets to attack the Flao strongholds from opposite sides of the Cydonia System.
• Gabriel reported on the Simulacrum Sanctum, the Golden Garuda, and the Heart-Forged Staffs, and Nimrod ordered combat tests, Librarian trials, and attendants for the Iron Hands commanders.
• Gabriel and the Honor Guard joined Manus and DuCaine aboard the Iron Hands flagship, where Gabriel entered the Simulacrum Sanctum and connected to its neural interface.
• Gabriel adapted to the data with help from his enhancements and Brainy Cat while the Iron Hands compared simulated battle plans and selected Manus’s plan.
• The 52nd Expedition Fleet used decoys and coordinated precision strikes to destroy the Flao fleet, avoiding Aether Cannon hits on its capital ships.

Diana commanded the 33rd Expedition Fleet against the Flao fleet, coordinating a counterattack while Nimrod and Per led separate assaults. The 33rd Expedition Fleet won the void battle, and Nimrod captured the Flao battlecruiser and its spoils.

• Diana kept command of the battle, delegated local targets, and used the Shadow of the Throne as bait to draw in battlecruiser A-4.
• Nimrod ordered a boarding assault against A-3 while Per used the dust cloud to trap and attack A-2's fleet.
• Per's squadron destroyed the Flao escort ships and forced the battlecruiser into the dust cloud, where he ordered his forces to board it.
• Nimrod threw the Spear of Dionysus through Governor of Flau and scores of Flao, then led the Honor Guard in defeating the remaining defenders.
• Nimrod collected the Night Fragment and other spoils, while Gabriel saw the 33rd Expedition Fleet achieve complete victory.

Gabriel concealed his computational abilities from Ferrus Manus by crediting Brainy Cat, while Amadeus DuCaine began the ground campaign in the Cydonia System. DuCaine used an Auxilia assault loaded with riches to lure the Flao out of their fortresses, leaving them exposed to the next phase of his plan.

• Gabriel used Brainy Cat as an explanation for keeping pace with the Iron Hands, while Amadeus DuCaine defended Gabriel against Ferrus Manus's call for mechanical modification.
• Ferrus Manus tasked DuCaine with demonstrating Storm and Hammer during the assaults on the northern and southern planets of the Cydonia System.
• DuCaine landed warships at five locations and ordered the Auxilia to attack the Flao fortresses while carrying glittering wealth as bait.
• The Flao defenders bombarded the attacking Auxilia, but the soldiers continued their assault for the full two hours DuCaine had ordered.
• The Flao generals mistook the wealth and human casualties for signs of weakness, then sent most of their forces out to raid the human warships.
• DuCaine's anvil tactic succeeded as the Flao garrisons abandoned their fortresses.

Gabriel used the Golden Garuda to gather detailed intelligence on Ferreira’s Flao force, but the Flao psykers eventually brought it down after it attacked their ranks. An hour later, Ferreira’s army attacked the Auxilia’s defensive line, where DuCaine held firm and led the counterattack.

• Ferreira’s Biomancy Masters shot down an Iron Hands Garuda, while Gabriel used the higher-flying Golden Garuda to report detailed information about the Flao column to DuCaine.
• Ferreira spotted the Golden Garuda as it descended into range, and his psykers attacked it with telekinetic force, lightning, and fire.
• Gabriel sent the damaged Golden Garuda diving at the Flao force, where it killed eight Aether Masters with a torrent of flame before Ferreira’s psychic attack destroyed it.
• An hour later, Ferreira led the Flao attack against the Auxilia line, and DuCaine personally held the defense to strengthen his soldiers’ morale.
• DuCaine shot down Flao Aether Masters despite their lightning attacks, and the Auxilia followed him into an assault on the Flau Warriors.

DuCaine held the defense line against the Flao until Clan Soragu’s forces unleashed a saturation bombardment and a spearhead assault that broke their army. After killing Ferreira and losing his left arm, DuCaine reorganized his forces and began the cleanup, while Nimrod attacked the Flao’s largest fortress on a nearby planet.

• Ferreira ordered the Flao Warriors to attack after realizing their Aether Masters had been exhausted, and the Flao’s glass blades inflicted severe casualties on the Auxilia.
• DuCaine, Gabriel, the Iron Father, and Brainy Cat fought to reinforce the line as DuCaine committed Iron Hands reserves and endured a wound from a Flao glass blade.
• After all the Flao forces joined the battle, DuCaine ordered Clan Soragu’s gunships, bombers, and artillery to bombard their packed ranks, then sent in the spearhead for a sweeping assault.
• DuCaine pursued Ferreira through the flames and killed him with his charged axe, losing his left arm in the fight.
• After treatment and resupply, DuCaine launched repeated mechanical assaults against the scattered Flao, while Nimrod led an attack on their largest fortress on the northern planet of the Cydonia System.

Nimrod’s forces fought Nikuli mercenaries wielding Whisper Spears inside the Flao fortress, while Per Koschelny’s Fifth Company faced Visken mercenaries at another stronghold. As night fell, the Visken grew faster and stronger, inflicting heavy casualties on Per’s Space Marines.

• Nimrod identified the attackers as Nikuli and warned the Honor Guard to filter out the Whisper Spears’ sound waves.
• A Whisper Spear hypnotized an Honor Guard member, and the Nikuli killed him before Nimrod crushed his killer and struck down other Whisper Spear wielders.
• The Flao general sent Milos and the Visken mercenaries to fight the black-armored warriors, promising them payment while privately resenting their demands.
• Per Koschelny and the Fifth Company fought Visken at the planet’s second-largest fortress and found them sluggish during daylight, despite their regeneration and acid spit.
• At night, the Visken became swift and powerful, using acid and their blades to kill several Shadow of Order warriors and severely wound more than a dozen.

Per and Nimrod discovered that the Visken became stronger in darkness but slowed under bright light, allowing the Shadow of Order to defeat them and collect their weapons and arms. After securing the trophies and sharing the Visken and Nikuli’s weaknesses with the 11th Chapter, Nimrod considered which world might suit recruiting Warriors.

• Per realized the Visken’s strength increased as the fortress darkened and ordered the Tactical Support Squad to set buildings ablaze, drawing the mercenaries into the light where the Shadow of Order could kill them.
• After the eleventh repeated cycle, the Lawyer felt power dissolve within him and became a true Lawyer.
• At Fortress One, Nimrod recognized the Visken mercenaries and had Arsena create a fireball, weakening them before he killed their leader, Milos, with the Spear of Dionysus.
• Nimrod instructed the Honor Guard to collect the Visken’s arms and blades, destroy their remaining bodies, and gather the Nikuli Whisper Spears, then sent the Visken and Nikuli information to the 11th Chapter.
• Nimrod transported the collected Whisper Spears, Visken arms, and blades to the Kingdom of Disorder and considered using the weapon materials to advance the Eighth Chapter’s Brawlers.

Nimrod assessed the Vespid as potential recruits, appointed Gabriel Master of Ordnance, and arranged continued cooperation with the Iron Hands. He and Manus set course for Vostonia, while Nimrod ordered the 8th Legion to redeploy there.

• Nimrod considered recruiting the loyal Kaser people for the 8th Legion and sought another way to win the mercenary Vespid.
• Gabriel reported that Amadeus DuCaine’s “Storm and Hammer” worked best on large, open battlefields and was vulnerable in small, complex engagements.
• Nimrod appointed Gabriel the Legion’s Master of Ordnance and ordered him to produce Garuda and the Simulacrum Sanctum and reform the Shadow of Order’s tactics.
• Nimrod and Manus agreed to send two “Know-it-all” Tech Sergeants and ten Honor Guard members to accompany the Iron Hands.
• Manus asked to visit Vostonia, and Nimrod welcomed him as the fleets departed for the Vostonia System.
• Nimrod ordered the 8th Legion to redeploy to Vostonia.

Maria Kournikova and two fellow Assassins received the Black Emperor’s revelation, advanced to Sequence 8, and were sent to Terra on a mission. Nimrod rejected Ferrus Manus’s proposal to increase factory efficiency by limiting benefits to a minority, and began considering a new divination after Manus departed.

• Nimrod directed Maria Kournikova to perform a ritual, and she revealed to Tsvetana and Dementyeva that he was the Black Emperor.
• Maria, Tsvetana, and Dementyeva completed the ritual, received Sequence 8 Instigator potions, and accepted Nimrod’s order to target those who slandered the Shadow of Order while seeking talented subordinates.
• Nimrod ordered Maria and the others to travel to Terra aboard the Glory of Vostonia and told Arsena Dunn to send Shadows of Order to protect House Visscher.
• Ferrus Manus praised Vostonia’s factories and proposed limiting benefits to a minority to raise efficiency, but Nimrod refused.
• Ferrus Manus departed for Medusa, and Nimrod considered what to ask the Dice of Prophecy.

Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to locate Nova Polia, where the Normans enslaved humanity and an STC for a battle tank could be recovered. After strengthening his forces and assembling an expedition, he arrived at Nova Polia and learned that hundreds of millions of lifeforms inhabited its sole habitable planet.

• Nimrod divined a star chart from Vostonia to Nova Polia, planning to obtain the Normans' eyes and the battle tank STC before the Space Wolves arrived.
• Nimrod ordered Gabriel to improve the Legion's mechanized companies and summoned Wojciech to Vostonia to help recover the STC and build his standing in the Adeptus Mechanicus.
• After the 8th Legion arrived, Nimrod advanced Thierry Vieira to Sequence 7 and told him that the Legion would accompany him to Nova Polia.
• Nimrod advanced Buuka and the others to Brawlers, then made Wojciech an Archaeologist without revealing the Black Emperor's identity to him.
• Nimrod's fleet traveled for five weeks to Nova Polia, where Arsena reported that its only habitable planet held at least several hundred million lifeforms.

Nimrod and the Honor Guard invaded Nova Polia, killing the Normans who enslaved its human population and breaking their psychic weapon. As Imperial forces spread across the planet to attack more cities, Thomas led his apprentice Nicholas into battle.

• Nimrod ordered Nova Polia's orbital defenses destroyed and directed a Drop Pod assault on Zone I.
• An Honor Guard member killed the Norman overseer and resisted a Norman lord's attempt to enslave him, while Nimrod used psychic attacks to kill Normans in Tu'er City.
• Humans rose against their Trua oppressors, and the Honor Guard killed Trua loyalists as Nimrod destroyed the Normans' psychic Pyramid with the Spear of Dionysus.
• Nimrod collected Norman heads and discovered that their Golden Sunstone decorations were a potion ingredient, while Arsena relayed orders for the Librarius to attack Norman cities.
• Jurjur led Third Company into city VI, resisted a Norman leader's psychic attack, and killed him with his Power Blade.
• Thomas and his apprentice Nicholas stormed city III as the assault on Nova Polia continued.

Nicholas demonstrated his psychic and combat skills during the liberation of Nova Polia, while Nimrod learned of the Thousand Sons’ crisis on Byzant and considered how to protect his Psykers from Chaos corruption. Nimrod ordered the Fourteenth and 18th Legions to Cypra Mundi, where he planned to meet them.

• Thomas led Nicholas through Norman City III, where Nicholas used an Ice Blade Storm and a psyker-pattern lasgun to kill Normans and Trua.
• Thomas faced a psychic assault from a Norman squad, and Nicholas steadied himself with Thelema’s first-layer Mindset before helping the Shadows of Order break the enemy shield and defeat the Normans.
• By the end of 823, humanity had liberated Nova Polia’s cities, and Nimrod ordered Tech-Priest Wojciech Belik to search for the planet’s Standard Template Construct.
• Nimrod learned that the Fifteenth Legion had suffered heavy losses on Byzant and suspected that Tzeentch had caused the Thousand Sons’ flesh mutations.
• Nimrod ordered the Fourteenth and 18th Legions to proceed to Cypra Mundi so he could meet them there.

Maria Kournikova incited Desiree to take revenge on Louis, whose monstrous transformation exposed a hidden force within him. Aboard the Shadow of the Throne, Nimrod authorized the Belik Battle Tank template, ordered reforms on Nova Polia, and set the fleet’s course for Cypra Mundi.

• Maria Kournikova gave Desiree weapons and urged him to seek revenge on Louis for the loss of his family.
• Desiree shot Louis, but Louis transformed, slaughtered the workers, and demanded to know who had sent Desiree; Desiree described a tall woman in a black robe before Louis killed him.
• Louis’s monstrous body broke apart, and the voice within him wondered whether Nimrod or Magnus was behind the attack.
• Wojciech Belik showed Nimrod a sacred battle tank construction template, and Nimrod named it the Belik Battle Tank and authorized its distribution to the Forge Worlds.
• Arsena reported on Nova Polia’s resources and the local population’s improved conditions; Nimrod ordered a squad from the 8th Legion to establish order there.
• Nimrod ordered the fleet to set sail for Cypra Mundi.

Nimrod inspected Cypra Mundi’s defenses and planned to strengthen the legion’s systems with Ramillies-class Star Fortresses while preparing to campaign against xenos pirates. He arrived to a grand welcome, and five days later met Legion Master Cassian Vaughn when the 18th Legion’s fleet arrived.

• Arsena Dunn reported that the Lord of the Forge had deployed Warp Gates and Bastion-class Energy Shields in Vostonia, Cypra Mundi, and the Vigilant Star System, and was working in the Triken System.
• Nimrod learned that the Second Legion was fighting the xenos pirate Andres in the Stevenage System and considered giving Wilshire a chance to advance to Sequence 8, Light Worshipper.
• Diana Pauline praised Cypra Mundi’s fleet-base design but warned that its orbital defenses and Vostonia’s defenses had vulnerabilities, prompting Nimrod to plan to find the Ramillies-class Star Fortress STC.
• Schlumberger encouraged his grandson Santiago to complete the Shadow of Order trials, and Santiago joined the crowd welcoming Nimrod to Cypra Mundi.
• Five days after Nimrod’s arrival, the 18th Legion’s fleet reached Cypra Mundi, and Nimrod met with Legion Master Cassian Vaughn.

Nimrod coordinated the 18th and XIV Legions with the Shadow of Order and ordered them to the Stevenage System. The Imperial fleet defeated the xenos fleet, and the 18th Legion began its landing operation on Planet III.

• Cassian Vaughn reported that the 18th Legion had recovered to fifteen thousand warriors, and Nimrod assigned Shadow of Order troops to serve alongside it.
• Barasin reported that the XIV Legion had thirty-seven thousand Unbroken, and Nimrod ordered the three Legions to depart for the Stevenage System in five days.
• The 8th, XIV, and 18th Legions arrived in the Stevenage System and joined the void battle against the xenos fleet.
• Vaughn led the 18th Legion's warships in an arrowhead charge through the xenos fleet, breaking its ships despite damage to the Imperial vessels.
• The Imperial fleet destroyed the xenos warships, and the 18th Legion began landing on Planet III after an orbital bombardment.

Cassian Vaughn and the 18th Legion rescued nearly a thousand enslaved people on Stevenage III, suffering ten deaths as they fought the Andres and escorted the survivors to safety. Lucas reported the rescue to Nimrod and showed him a colorful mushroom that Nimrod recognized as a main ingredient for the next potion in the “Apprentice” sequence.

• Lucas led Vaughn and the 18th Legion through the anomalous forest, where they found Andres enslaving humans to gather mushrooms.
• After an Andres killed a woman, Vaughn ordered an attack, and the Astartes killed the xenos and freed the captives.
• Vaughn promised the Stevenage people protection and ordered his warriors to escort them out of the forest; Lucas took a jar of colorful mushrooms.
• The Andres attacked during the retreat, and the 18th Legion held its defensive line, losing ten warriors before reaching a transport ship and Auxilia soldiers.
• Lucas reported the rescue to Nimrod, who recognized the mushroom in the report as an ingredient for the “Trickster” potion.

The Dusk Raiders endured repeated Andres assaults before launching a coordinated attack at dusk, using the sudden shift from light to darkness to catch the enemy off guard. Shikodran concluded that their timed assault was effective but also driven by ritual, and the battle continued as the Andres line collapsed.

• The Dusk Raiders used Storm Shields and Thunder Hammers to withstand and destroy Andres disc-shaped tanks, while Alex and Shikodran assessed their defensive strength.
• Barasin ordered Theseus's 7th Company to lead a counterattack against the Andres line and their largest factory, with the assault timed for evening.
• Shikodran watched the Dusk Raiders maintain their weapons and prepare at their rally points, then questioned their rigid refusal to support the Second Company before dusk.
• At the countdown's end, darkness fell exactly on schedule, and the Dusk Raiders opened fire and charged as Andres fire briefly stalled.
• Shikodran observed that the dusk attack shattered the Andres line and reasoned that the Dusk Raiders had exploited the enemy's adjustment to darkness.

The Shadows of Order attacked the Andresians’ underground fortress on Stevenage I, where Winterborn discovered that the xenos had enslaved human Psykers to power weapons. The battle continued as Winterborn faced the scale of the Andresians’ psychic arsenal.

• Wilshire inspired the Shadows of Order to cleanse the Andresians beneath the planet’s surface.
• Winterborn led his Reaver Squads through the fortress defenses and used a Bard’s song to steady and strengthen the troops inside.
• The Reavers blasted breaches into the Basalt Fortress and advanced through its underground passages.
• Winterborn’s squad found Andresian vehicles powered by bound Psykers, and a psychic beam killed one Shadow of Order.
• Winterborn realized the Andresians were turning captured Psykers into weapons and wondered how they had obtained so many.