Chapter Summaries

Nimrod uncovered how the Osiris Mind-Seeds controlled the planet’s population and used their psychic network to incapacitate them. The Legion gathered the captured Mind-Seeds and their staffs, while the surviving Sons of War were brought aboard the Judgment.

• Nimrod resisted an Osiris Mind-Seed’s psychic attack, captured it, and learned that its psychic staff drew power from controlled minds to expand its influence.
• Nimrod sent the Mind-Seeds’ abilities and weaknesses to the Legion’s tactical network and ordered the Librarians to capture Mind-Seeds.
• Nimrod entered the planetwide psychic network and used the Howling Mask’s Psychic Scream to kill Mind-Seeds across the planet.
• Eddie’s squad endured rebel attacks and artillery until the cannon fire stopped and the rebels halted.
• Nimrod ordered the Shadow of Order to gather the Mind-Seeds killed by the Psychic Scream, and their psychic staffs were sent to the Librarian.
• The Honor Guard found fifty-two surviving Sons of War and settled them aboard the Judgment.

Ramsey, Miki, and the Librarians helped defeat the Osiris Mind-Seeds and pacify the rebellions in the Osiris Sector. Nimrod agreed to protect the Osirans, then used the Dice of Prophecy to seek the Baal Predator STC on Auten III.

• Ramsey subdued rebel soldiers with Blood Boiling, weakened an Osiris Mind-Seed, and took its blue psychic staff.
• The Librarians used Howling Masks and captured psychic staffs to amplify their attacks against the Osiris Mind-Seeds.
• Miki led the 1st Catachan Banshee Regiment through rebel lines and killed an Osiris Mind-Seed at its residence.
• Nimrod learned that the rebellions in the eleven Osiris star systems had been pacified and that the legion had rescued five hundred and thirteen Sons of War.
• Nimrod accepted the Osirans' request for protection and ordered the Arbites Lord's First Chapter to garrison Osiris.
• Nimrod chose to divine the Baal Predator STC on Auten III, obtained a star map from Osiris, and recorded it in a Data Crystal.

Sanchez and Gabriel used the Void Hunter’s Simulacrum Sanctum to coordinate the 7th Legion’s victory in the void battle, after which Nimrod ordered assaults on Auten’s habitable planets. Maria Kournikova led the Assassins toward Fortress V on Auten I in Shadow-pattern Stormbirds.

• Sanchez welcomed Gabriel aboard the Void Hunter and joined him in the Simulacrum Sanctum to direct the fleet’s attack.
• Jacob Gordon used the Sanctum’s data network to coordinate four cannons, whose shells struck the enemy ship at the same time.
• The Void Hunter and three other Relic-class warships exploited their range advantage to defeat the enemy fleet without losing a vessel.
• Nimrod ordered forces from the Honor Guard, 7th Legion, and 11th Chapter to assault Auten I, III, and IV, and assigned Maria Kournikova’s Assassins to Fortress V.
• Maria led the Assassins aboard three Shadow-pattern Stormbirds, which evaded detection and landed in a valley near Fortress V.

Maria instigated Nick into assassinating Lord Kraft, while the Lucifer Blacks launched a decapitation strike against Lord Rat on Auten III. Fifteen days after the Shadow of Order occupied the Auten System, Gabriel discovered an STC for armored tanks in Rat’s fortress ruins.

• Maria used her influence to persuade Nick to kill Lord Kraft and gave him a Flao Glass Blade.
• Nick infiltrated Kraft’s palace, pierced his armor with the blade, and killed him before the guards shot Nick down.
• Maria’s subordinates confirmed Kraft’s death as the Honor Guard’s assault met unexpectedly weak resistance.
• Theo and Laurent led the Lucifer Blacks in a coordinated attack on Lord Rat’s palace, breaking through its defenses.
• Rat attempted to escape, but Theo and the Sword Guards defeated his inner guards, and Theo beheaded Rat.
• Fifteen days after the Shadow of Order occupied the Auten System, Gabriel found an STC for armored tanks in Rat’s fortress ruins.

Gabriel presented Nimrod with an offensive Predator variant STC, which Nimrod named the Gabriel-pattern Predator and assigned him to oversee. Later, the Emperor chose Nimrod to pacify Incaladion, while praising the Shadow of Order’s strength and progress.

• Gabriel reported that he had excavated an STC for a heavily armed Predator variant, and Nimrod named it after him and tasked him with its construction and distribution.
• Nimrod recognized Gabriel’s mastery as an Archaeologist and promoted him to Appraiser.
• A Primarch’s Attendant reported that Mars would complete a second Gloriana-class Battleship in exchange for the Ramillies-class Star Fortress STC, and Nimrod assigned the ship to the Death Lord.
• Malcador told the Emperor that Mars had requested aid against the rebellion on Incaladion, and the Emperor selected Nimrod to lead its pacification.
• The Emperor and Malcador discussed Urian Bendreg’s unease and the Primarchs’ influence on their Legions, and the Emperor praised Nimrod’s Shadow of Order for its effectiveness and resilience.

Nimrod agreed to pacify Incaladion and resolved to use the war to bring the forge world under his control. After accepting a new Gloriana-class Battleship for Adams, his fleet set course for Incaladion, where ships began arriving.

• Malcador and Envoy Magos Ruben asked Nimrod to intervene in Incaladion's civil war, and Nimrod agreed to pacify it.
• Nimrod decided to turn the campaign into an opportunity to control Incaladion and secure a forge world for his territories.
• Nimrod ordered the 5th Legion to join the war and summoned the War Griffons, while excluding forces he considered unreliable or needed elsewhere.
• Nimrod accepted the Gloriana-class Battleship from Mars and sent Adams to take command of it; Adams named the ship the Death Wither.
• Fourteen days later, Nimrod's fleet set sail for Incaladion, and ships began emerging into the system.

Nimrod and the Shadow of Order arrived at Incaladion and attacked the rebels besieging the Forge Temple. The Tiger Eye Titan Legions recognized them as reinforcements and joined the fight, though the siege had already cost them many Titans.

• Nimrod ordered Rosicky Cech to contact the Tiger Eye Titan Legions, and the Golden Garuda sent them a binary message.
• Princeps Anger assessed the message, confirmed it matched the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet's code, and marked the newcomers as friendly.
• Nimrod led the Honor Guard's assault, while Arsena Dunn destroyed armored vehicles and Santiago Bergkamp banished dozens of tanks through a Warp rift.
• Anger resumed control of Hira-Gal and saw the black-armored reinforcements attack the rebels.
• Anger announced that reinforcements had arrived, and the Tiger Eye Titan Legions rallied to fight the traitors.

Nimrod secured the Magi’s cooperation and launched the Shadow of Order’s campaign to reclaim Incaladion from rebels and alien forces. As the offensive began, Yaxin’s First Chapter retook the Fifth Forge Temple while the 7th Legion attacked the Tarellian war herds.

• Nimrod introduced himself to Anger, then entered the Forge Temple and met Incaladion’s twelve Magi.
• The Magi showed Nimrod that only eight of the planet’s twelve Forge Temples remained under their control and described the rebel and alien forces occupying the others.
• The Magi refused to leave their posts under an emergency protocol, so Nimrod ordered Tech-Priests to accompany the legion and assigned forces to reclaim the lost territories.
• Yaxin led the First Chapter’s assault on the Fifth Forge Temple, destroyed a rebel Magos with his Power Fist, and routed the rebel forces.
• Sanchez’s mobile 4th Company used Gabriel-pattern Predators to tear through the Tarellian war herds, while Catachan-born Shadows of Order joined the hunt.

In 837, Polti led his Catachan-born Shadows of Order and Catachan Wolves in a successful hunt against the Tarellian warbeast horde, hoping to prove himself worthy of the Honor Guard. Later, House Mordred faced destruction by rebel Titans until the War Griffons arrived and defeated them.

• Polti promised Broken Claw a share of his Salamander meat if its pack lured the Tarellian herd into an ambush.
• Polti's squad detonated Frag Mines and opened fire, killing most of the herd before pursuing and cutting down the fleeing xenos with their Devil's Claws and Catachan Wolves.
• In the fourth month of 837, Victor and House Mordred fought five rebel Titans and suffered heavy losses despite destroying four Titans with their defenses.
• Victor learned that Nimrod had sent God-Machines to help, but his attacks failed to penetrate a Warlord-class Titan's Void Shield as three Titans targeted him.
• The War Griffons arrived and overwhelmed the rebel Titans; Victor led House Mordred's knights in a counterattack, and the forty-first War Griffons Titan's arrival marked the destruction of the last rebel Titan.

Nimrod crushed the rebel Magos Barnes on Incaladion and backed Neto’s rise as he began reshaping the forge world. At the War Council, Guilliman thanked Nimrod for saving his son, while Nimrod privately resolved to claim four worlds that Guilliman had yet to conquer.

• Nimrod broke into the Second Forge Temple and killed Barnes, a grotesque machine-flesh Magos leading the rebels.
• Nimrod told Neto to cast off Incaladion’s Barbarian tribal culture and promised to help him rise, first to Magos and eventually toward Fabricator-General.
• Nimrod persuaded the twelve Magi to accept Neto as a Magos, then made him a Know-it-all and assigned Rosicky Czech to help him build influence.
• Arsena Dunn reported that The Emperor had found Roboute Guilliman on Macragge, and Nimrod considered using divination to seize worlds in Ultramar before Guilliman could claim them.
• Nimrod attended the War Council, where Horus introduced Guilliman and Guilliman thanked Nimrod for saving Glenn Worsoto and the Osiris punitive fleet.
• Nimrod welcomed Guilliman while privately deciding that Calth and three other worlds would be his thank-you gift.

At the War Council, Guilliman announced that the 13th Legion would expand toward Terra, while Nimrod considered using the expedition to locate worlds he wanted to claim. The Emperor then revealed a grave xenos threat in the Addex-Mors system, which Nimrod recognized as the Rangdan, and asked which Legion would eliminate it.

• Guilliman told Nimrod that the 13th Legion would advance toward Terra to establish supply routes, and Nimrod considered divining the location of Thalassa along that route.
• Russ challenged Nimrod about his own task, and Nimrod questioned Russ's reliance on Astropaths and his Fenrisian beliefs; Horus, Guilliman, and Malcador intervened to ease the dispute.
• The Fabricator-General of Mars arrived, followed by The Emperor and Valdor, and the War Council assembled.
• The Emperor announced that the 105th Vanguard Company of the 5th Legion had found xenos controlling human colonies and producing slave soldiers in the Addex-Mors system.
• Nimrod recognized the threat as the Rangdan, and The Emperor asked the council which Legion should destroy it.

The Emperor assigned Nimrod’s Eleventh Legion to lead the expedition against the xenos threat on Cyclopia-Mors after the War Council debated the First Legion’s suitability. Vulkan thanked Nimrod for protecting Nocturne and offered his Legion a chance to join Saturnine armor research, while Nimrod prepared to organize the work and manage the campaign.

• Horus recommended the First Legion for the Rangdan campaign, but Russ argued that its depleted state and Bendreg’s inexperience made it unsuitable.
• The Emperor asked Nimrod about the pacification of Incaladion and assigned the Eleventh Legion to cleanse the xenos threat on Cyclopia-Mors.
• Vulkan thanked Nimrod for the shields protecting Nocturne and proposed extending their protection to other human worlds.
• Nimrod agreed to provide limited shield support in exchange for resources or population from protected worlds.
• Vulkan told Nimrod that he had forged fourteen weapons for his Legion and invited its Tech Sergeants to help perfect Saturnine armor on Saturn.
• Nimrod decided to send the Lord of the Forge to join the Saturnine armor research, then summoned Arsena Dunn and Rosicky Cech to arrange the related affairs.

Nimrod ordered the development of adaptive armor for the Royal Court Acolytes and organized an overwhelming expedition against the Rangdan. He left the 7th Legion to secure Incaladion, assigned further reforms and purges there, and ordered the Ninth Chapter to meet him in the Sol System.

• Nimrod gave Rosicky Cech a replicated Hunt-Master Suit template and ordered him to develop armor suited to the Royal Court Acolytes.
• Nimrod confirmed that the enhanced Ramillies-class Star Fortress was complete, named the first one Ramillies, and ordered its troops to familiarize themselves with it.
• Nimrod classified intelligence about the Rangdan, founded the Order of the Broken Claw, and set the requirement that its members kill four Overlords.
• Nimrod ordered six Chapters to assemble at Lucius, committed First Chapter companies and the Gloriana-class Judgment, and requested the Void Walker Titan Legion for the expedition.
• Nimrod left the 7th Legion at Incaladion to support Neto and ordered the Reaper Lord to suppress local threats and resistance to reforms.
• Nimrod ordered Szczesny and the Ninth Chapter to proceed to the Sol System, where he would meet them.

After the Incaladion campaign, Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy and John’s dream divination to discover that the Sahar-Duin were invading Thalassa. He assigned Thalassa to the Ninth Chapter and ordered Szczesny to rescue the world and recruit its people.

• Nimrod reviewed the Incaladion campaign’s casualties and gains, including control of the forge world and the Tiger Eye Titan Legions.
• Nimrod divined a star chart to Thalassa and asked John to use dream divination to learn about the world’s current situation.
• John’s dream showed shark-like Sahar-Duin attacking humans, and Nimrod identified them and recorded information about their forces.
• Nimrod gave Szczesny Thalassa as the Ninth Chapter’s recruiting world and ordered him to rescue its people from the Sahar-Duin invasion.
• Nimrod instructed Szczesny to target the Sahar-Duin’s back-mounted water tanks and sent Nicholas along to assist and become a Sailor.

Roan Sicarius and his family fought to defend Thalassa from the Sahar-Duin until the Shadow of Order arrived under Szczesny. After the Ninth Chapter defeated the xenos, Roan was appointed Thalassa’s first Planetary Governor.

• Roan led the Sicarius family’s retreat toward the caves and refused to use ancient weapons that would destroy Thalassa.
• Nicholas and the Shadow of Order rescued Roan and his family, then brought them to Szczesny, who promised Roan the governorship if he fought alongside the Chapter.
• Roan and Matthews joined Szczesny in defending Trent, while the Shadow of Order used its powers to destroy the Sahar-Duin’s water tanks.
• After fifteen days, Szczesny announced that the xenos pirates had been driven out and placed Thalassa under the Ninth Chapter’s protection, naming Roan its first Planetary Governor.

Szczesny reported Talassar’s conquest to Nimrod, who ordered the Shadow of Order to exploit the system and pursue the Sahar-Duin. Roboute Guilliman arrived too late to help, then resumed his crusade while Nimrod reviewed preparations for his own campaign.

• Szczesny used a ritual to meet Nimrod and reported that the Ninth Chapter had taken Talassar, appointed Roan Sicarius governor, and lost 294 members fighting the Sahar-Duin.
• Nimrod ordered the Tech Sergeants to study Sahar-Duin weapons and instructed the Storm Lord to locate and occupy their systems while bringing him more Sahar-Duin.
• The Storm Lord welcomed Roboute Guilliman to Talassar, where Guilliman learned the xenos had already been defeated and the system occupied by the Ninth Chapter.
• Guilliman departed Talassar, reflecting that he had planned to use the system as a key node and admiring Nimrod’s foresight.
• Nimrod asked Arsena Dunn about the campaign, learned that Diana Pauline was preparing the Ramillies launch ceremony, and was told the Vostonia Fortress-Monastery was complete.
• The Primarch’s Attendants reported that 72,540 Shadow of Order, 152,000 Auxilia, and 104 Void Walker Titans had assembled for the war.

The Ramillies-class Star Fortress entered the Xuánjiǎo-Morse system and joined the battle against the Rangdan, while Nimrod directed the fleet’s advance. The Rangdan’s powerful warships then struck back, devastating the Expeditionary Fleet’s forward vessels.

• Diana Pauline ordered the Ramillies to set sail, and Archmagos Rian Ramirez watched it depart Cypra Mundi for the Mandeville Point.
• Six-year-old Flamini foresaw an attack in the Manache System and led humans into the sewers before Jeremias and the xenos arrived.
• Lewis Von Valancius ordered his flagship to prepare for warp travel and planned to return to Vostonia to report the xenos’ enslavement of humans to The Monarch.
• The Ramillies returned to realspace in Xuánjiǎo-Morse and its Torpedo Chief directed a massive torpedo barrage that destroyed swarms of Rangdan drones.
• Nimrod ordered the Shadow of Order fleet to seize four planets beyond the Artificial War Satellites’ firing range.
• Rangdan warships attacked the Expeditionary Fleet with lightning and Shadow Blasters, destroying numerous ships, including two capital ships.

The Expeditionary Fleet turned the Rangdan Fleet’s deceptive readings against it, with Ramillies helping the Imperials seize the advantage. Nimrod boarded a Rangdan capital ship to capture its technology, freed human slaves from their Neural Collars, and led the assault as Pierre’s squad began another boarding attack.

• The Expeditionary Fleet identified the Rangdan ships falsifying its readings and counterattacked, while Ramillies destroyed enemy vessels and covered the Imperial advance.
• After the Imperial Fleet matched the remaining Rangdan warships, Nimrod ordered a boarding assault and rammed a Rangdan capital ship with his Gloriana-class Battleship.
• Nimrod boarded with Polti and other Shadows of Order, broke the Neural Collars’ psychic control over human slaves, and bound several slaves to preserve their collars for study.
• Polti fought a Rangdan Warrior, discovered its weakness, and killed it with his Power Sword after recalling the Warp Insight taught by Nimrod.
• Nimrod’s team advanced through the ship as the Blade launched Boarding Torpedoes under Thierry Vieira’s orders, and Pierre led an assault squad aboard.

Pierre Wright led his squad through Rangdan forces and killed a Rangdan Overlord, while the 8th Legion captured enemy warships and studied Rangdan technology. By 839, Nimrod's fleet had reached Xuanjiao-Morse, and researchers presented a device that could disrupt Neural Collar commands for field testing.

• Pierre Wright and his nine squadmates charged through Rangdan warriors and enslaved humans to reach the Rangdan Overlord.
• A Shadow of Order protected Pierre's advance and killed a Rangdan Warrior, while Pierre broke the Overlord's shield and pierced its throat and skull.
• The 8th Legion captured forty-one Rangdan warships, and its researchers dismantled ships, examined weapons, studied the xenos, and investigated Neural Collars.
• By 839, the 33rd Expedition Fleet had advanced to the outer planets of Xuanjiao-Morse with Ramillies supporting its operations.
• Thomas reported that the Chief Librarian's research had yielded a method to make Neural Collars and a crystal device that could disrupt their commands within fifty meters.
• Nimrod ordered Thomas to deploy the device in ground combat and refine it through testing.

Nimrod organized the second phase of the war against the Rangdan and prepared selected Honor Guard members to become Beyonders. On Planet V, Wilshire led the Second Legion through the caves and killed a Rangdan Overlord with a pillar of light and his Thunder Hammer.

• Gabriel and Mikel reported findings from Rangdan technology research and dissections, and Nimrod ordered continued research and captured xenos for training and study aboard the Ramillies.
• Arsena Dunn reported the Expeditionary Fleet’s losses, and Nimrod assigned forces to attack the four outer planets of the Gyre-Mors System.
• Nimrod sent Santiago Bergkamp back to the 5th Legion, selected fifty-two Honor Guard members for Beyonder training, and Thomas invited Santiago to join the Librarians, but Santiago declined.
• Wilshire led the Second Legion into Planet V’s cave network, where they fought enslaved xenos and reached its center on the fifth day.
• A Rangdan Overlord attacked the Shadows of Order, but Wilshire saw through its weakness, burned its eyes with a pillar of light, and smashed it with his Thunder Hammer.