Chapter Summaries

Jorin ordered the Wolves to modify the Falcon into an assault ship after their boarding torpedoes failed to breach a Fashi warship’s defenses, while Nimrod’s forces captured fourteen Fashi vessels in the Yeni System. Nimrod learned that Seraphax and Bela had stolen the Order of Sirius records and suspected Tzeentch was behind their actions; the chapter ended with the Wolves arriving in Yeni.

• Jorin ordered Osega to modify the Falcon into a ramming assault boat after the Fashi shields destroyed the Wolves’ boarding torpedoes.
• Sanchez launched an attack in the Yeni System, where Aether beams shattered Fashi shields and Pat led the Honor Guard in boarding combat.
• Arsena Dunn reported that the Shadow of Order had captured fourteen Fashi warships, and Nimrod ordered their technology and Scabin remains studied.
• Luther told Nimrod that Seraphax and Bela had gone missing with the Order of Sirius records, and Nimrod suspected Tzeentch was guiding them.
• Nimrod ordered Luther to have Ulian investigate the Terrans Lion had sent to Caliban.
• Arsena told Nimrod that the Wolves’ fleet had arrived in the Yeni System.

Jorin's Wolves attacked Yeni III to find Duran's coordinates, while Russ joined the Tech-Priests in deciphering Fashi technology. After Nimrod learned Russ had helped them work unusually quickly, he used the Dice of Prophecy to seek a star map from Yeni to Duran.

• Nimrod taunted Russ at the Primarch's Palace as Russ gave Sanchez his wolf-pelt cloak and left for the campaign.
• Jorin led the Wolves' assault on Yeni III, and the Falcon rammed a Hunter-class Fashi warship so the Wolves could board it.
• After the Wolves cleared the ship, Jorin found Harald transformed by pollution and killed him when he charged, then ordered the pack to investigate the cause without informing the pack leader.
• Russ joined the Tech-Priests aboard the Hrafnkel to decipher a Logis-Engine and helped them locate the passage to Duran.
• Nimrod learned that the Wolves' warship had set sail, obtained information about Duran, and rolled the Dice of Prophecy after reciting a star-map request eleven times.

Russ’s forces attacked Duran while Jorin investigated missing Space Wolves who might have been captured during a berserk episode. After a broadcast exposed a mutated soldier, Russ met Nimrod and agreed to keep his secrets under three conditions, leaving the Tyrant of Duran as Russ’s declared prey.

• Russ ordered the attack on Duran as the Shadow of Order fleet arrived and the Tyrant of Duran taunted him over a transmission.
• Jorin and the Space Wolves stormed the orbital station, where Ulbander discovered that some warriors were missing and might have been taken alive.
• Jorin refused to report Ulbander’s unconfirmed suspicions to Russ and ordered the search to continue.
• Six days later, a Duran broadcast showed a mutated soldier, and Russ left the Crimson Fortress to meet Nimrod.
• Nimrod agreed to keep Russ’s secret under three conditions, including that Russ not criticize him or the Shadow of Order and that the wolf packs provide prey; he left the final condition for later.

Pat’s force captured the industrial district, Russ abandoned the Crimson Fortress to aid Jorin, and Nimrod’s legion seized the fortress and killed Duran’s ruler. Nimrod defeated Russ in combat, claimed Kraken’s Maw as his trophy, and left the Wolf King battered on the ground.

• Pat led the Honor Guard into the industrial district, where they destroyed a Leviathan and secured the workers’ surrender.
• Russ learned that Jorin’s company had broken from the line and turned toward the cathedral district, while Nimrod continued the assault on the Crimson Fortress.
• Nimrod used Terror Vision to destroy more than a hundred Leviathans, and Sanchez killed the Lord of Duran in the Throne room.
• Russ confronted Jorin about the Canis Helix and the Legion’s curse, then went to the Crimson Fortress after hearing that the Tyrant of Duran was dead.
• Nimrod fought Russ, disarmed him, and claimed Kraken’s Maw before overpowering him with a barrage of punches.
• Jorin rushed to Russ after the Wolf King crashed to the ground, while Nimrod reflected that he was not the one Russ had been destined to kill.

After withdrawing from Duran, Nimrod ordered his forces to study the planet’s technology, regroup, and travel to Chogoris to meet Jaghatai. On Prospero, Ethan joined a hunt for Soul-Eater Bees and discovered his own unyielding resolve as he helped defeat the swarm.

• Ogvi Ogvi Heimschrut worried that the Canis Helix mutation could threaten every Wolf, but said Jorin had secured the Wolf Lord’s promise to keep it secret in exchange for Fenrisian creatures.
• Nimrod ordered the Tech Sergeant to study Duran’s technology, told Sanchez to rest and reorganize on the planet, and sent Arsena Dunn to set a course for Chogoris.
• A Pavoni Thousand Sons warrior showed Ethan around Tizca, where the residents thanked the Shadow of Order for hunting Soul-Eater Bees, and gave him a Psyker Crystal and access to the Pavoni Pyramid.
• Ethan flew into the wasteland and joined a Shadow of Order hunting team, which warned him that using psychic power would attract more Soul-Eater Bees.
• When the swarm overwhelmed the team, Ethan drew strength from his resolve and fought alongside his battle-brothers until they killed the Soul-Eater Bees.

Nimrod secured Jaghatai’s support for a future campaign against the Rangdan after testing his resolve during a game of Go. As the Shadow of the Throne departed Chogoris, Nimrod gave Balthasar a bottle of Black Serum and chose the Lawyer path for him.

• Jaghatai and Nimrod played Go while discussing Morlo, the danger facing Psykers, and the opposition to them among the Primarchs; Nimrod won their contest of wills.
• Nimrod noticed that Balthasar seemed Corroded, then waited five days until Jaghatai grew restless with palace duties and agreed to ride out across Chogoris.
• Nimrod invited Jaghatai to join the hunt for the Rangdan homeworld, and Jaghatai agreed on the condition that his Legion would act independently.
• Nimrod and Jaghatai arranged to muster at the Carium Gate in November 873, and the Shadow of the Throne left Chogoris three days later.
• Nimrod told Balthasar to drink Black Serum and selected the Lawyer path for him, intending him to become the Grey Knights’ founding Grand Master.

In 873.M30, Nimrod prepared the gathered forces for the Rangdan war, empowered Anacharis, and coordinated with Perturabo and Jaghatai on the campaign. Perturabo delivered the weapon Nimrod had requested, while his grand theater remained unfinished.

• Nimrod chose to rotate Chapters across three planned campaigns and agreed to trade Mars the Artificial War Satellite wreckage for a repaired, upgraded Gloriana-class Battleship.
• Anacharis reported that he had become a Magos, led the Xana expeditionary force, restored the Wodiah Scepter, and invented the Calculus Logi; Nimrod gave him the Sequence 7 Appraiser potion.
• Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to record a star map to the Rangdan homeworld, then Anacharis drank the potion and thanked him.
• Perturabo and Jaghatai arrived for the war council, where Nimrod helped them reach a limited agreement to coordinate their approaches against the Rangdan.
• Perturabo told Nimrod that the weapon against the Hrud was complete and delivered, while his grand theater was nearly finished.

Perturabo coordinated the fleet assault on the Rangdan homeworld while Anacharis Scoria led the Mechanicus ground attack against its defenders. Anacharis destroyed the Slaugth Destroyer, but the battle continued.

• Perturabo directed the fleet's torpedoes and battle plan as Jaghatai's warship disrupted his formations and the Iron Blood and Shadow of the Throne followed his orders.
• Anacharis rallied the Xana fleet in the Omnissiah's name and led an orbital bombardment of the Rangdan homeworld.
• Anacharis led the Mechanicus assault across the devastated surface, directing Malinax knights and using his weapons to kill Rangdan xenos and the Bone-Eater.
• Anacharis assigned the newly arrived Constructs to the Malinax knights and attacked the Slaugth Destroyer with his ranged weapons and Wodiah Scepter.
• Anacharis closed in on the Slaugth Destroyer, tore it apart with his Power Fist and Chainfist, and detonated bombs inside its body.

Nimrod discovered a vast Slaugth force beneath the Rangdan homeworld and unleashed a devastating psychic strike against it. He and his warriors pressed into the underground battle, where Akurduana confronted Slaugth as two beings in the Empyrean watched.

• Nimrod learned that a large underground facility had been found and flew there with Akurduana and the others.
• Nimrod saw more than a thousand Constructs fighting the Mechanicum and suspected a Slaugth king was below.
• Nimrod hurled the Spear of Dionysus, destroying many Constructs and unleashing psychic force that overwhelmed Balthasar and Togutai Yesugei.
• Nimrod and his companions entered the battle, where Lawyer, Arbites, Barbarian, the Bio-Mastiffs, Zso Sahaal, and Lucius attacked the Constructs.
• Akurduana received permission from Nimrod to fight Slaugth, disarmed him, and cut into his wormlike body as two beings in the Empyrean watched.

Nimrod defeated and imprisoned the giant Slaugth while Perturabo and Jaghatai fought its guards, then claimed a Starlight Recording Stone from the Slaugth’s cargo. After Nimrod gave Perturabo the Rangdan homeworld and a Ramillies-class Star Fortress, the fleet departed for Terra’s triumphal celebration.

• Perturabo and Jaghatai fought the Slaugth guards as Nimrod engaged the giant Slaugth and overpowered it.
• Nimrod used talismans and the Hand of Order to imprison the giant Slaugth, then discovered a Starlight Recording Stone in a gray box.
• Perturabo and Jaghatai destroyed the wounded Slaugth guards, and Jaghatai announced he was returning to Chogoris.
• Nimrod gave Perturabo the Rangdan homeworld and the Ramillies-class Star Fortress as spoils and a refuge.
• The Star Hunters departed first, and the joint fleet set course for Terra to attend the triumphal celebration.

After the Rangdan victory, Nimrod attended Terra’s triumphal celebration and received Arjia to govern, along with permission to choose an item from the Emperor’s vault. As Nimrod inspected the collection, his Spirit Sight abruptly failed near an unremarkable banner bearing a scarlet flame.

• Arsena Dunn reported that the Shadow of Order had suffered 14,850 deaths and now numbered about 237,000, while Nimrod reviewed the Legion’s losses and strength.
• Nimrod gave Sequence potions to Glenn Worsoto and Lucius, shared the Black Emperor prayer method with several allies, and assigned Pat to serve House Visscher as a Shadow Guard.
• Nimrod and Perturabo arrived on Terra and received triumphal laurels from the Emperor before cheering crowds.
• The Emperor entrusted Arjia to Nimrod’s governance and offered him one item from the Imperial vault.
• While inspecting the vault, Nimrod’s Spirit Sight shut off near its center, and he focused on an iron-black banner embroidered with a scarlet flame.

Nimrod discovered that the banner he chose from The Old Man in Yellow’s treasury was the Red Priest pathway’s uniqueness and began testing its powers. After learning Perturabo had been sent to suppress the Zavarik rebellion, Nimrod left Terra for the Carium Gate void region.

• Nimrod chose the banner despite its dangerous reaction to Spirit Sight, and The Old Man in Yellow let him take it from the treasury.
• Nimrod discovered that the banner warmed only for him, burned John when he tried to divine it, and let Nimrod summon an invisible flame at the cost of his spirituality.
• Nimrod realized the banner was the Red Priest uniqueness, whose authorities included war, conquest, destruction, sacrifice, charm, and flame.
• Nimrod noticed the uniqueness’s charm affecting Perturabo, who told him that The Old Man in Yellow had assigned him to suppress the Zavarik rebellion.
• Nimrod and Perturabo exchanged hopes of meeting again, and Nimrod left Terra for the Carium Gate void region.

In 875.M30, the Star Hunters gathered on Chogoris and became the White Scars, while Borgel and Stah kept their allegiance to the Black Emperor. In 876, Nimrod prepared his Legions for a long campaign against the Hrud in the Abyss of Zaku-Trada, then appointed Santiago to command the void war and advance research into Warp-based attacks.

• Borgel and Stah met Jaghatai on Chogoris, reported their service at Shana and chose the Chogorian names Agula and Narisun.
• Jaghatai led fifty thousand Chogorians and Star Hunters through a blood-binding ritual and named them the White Scars.
• Arsena Dunn reported the Legions’ assembly, ship preparations, and recruitment on Tanith and Arjia as Nimrod laid out tactics for the Hrud campaign.
• Nimrod examined the Red Priest Uniqueness, divined the route to the Abyss of Zaku-Trada, and recorded a star chart for the expedition.
• Nimrod gave Santiago Bergkamp a Sequence 6 Recorder potion and ordered him to record the abilities of selected members of his Legion.
• Nimrod assigned Santiago command of the void war and gave him data on the Hrud, Terror Vision, and Aeldari Warp Spiders to develop Warp-travel attack methods.

Santiago Bergkamp successfully recorded a Fury Strike and began crafting a Warp Spider-inspired psyker backpack aboard the Starship. Meanwhile, a Shadow of Order fleet fought Hrud warships in Volpa Star Canyon, destroying two enemies before more Hrud vessels emerged and surrounded them.

• Santiago discovered his Recorder could store twenty-two abilities and successfully recorded the People of Fury's Fury Strike after an initial failure.
• Santiago returned to his quarters and used psyker tools in Magnus's Mindset to craft a backpack bearing a Warp Spider rune.
• Six Hrud warships ambushed the Shadow of Order fleet in Volpa Star Canyon, and an Entropy Beam aged one destroyer into a wreck.
• The Shadow of Order ships counterattacked with Lascannons, Shadow Blasters, and Aether Cannons, destroying two Hrud vessels.
• Four Hrud ships struck the frigate with Entropy Beams, and more black Hrud warships emerged from the nebula around the fleet.

Santiago coordinated the 5th Legion’s battle against the Hrud in Volpa Star Canyon, then boarded an enemy warship with two Mind Servitors. He used recorded abilities to fight the Hrud and left one trapped in a transparent prison.

• Santiago directed Starry Sky and the fleet as the Hrud attacked, while the Simian Field protected the Battle Mothership from their entropic weapons.
• Starfall’s captain received Santiago’s approval to sacrifice the destroyer, whose reactor explosion destroyed forty-one Hrud warships and broke the deadlock.
• Santiago decided to capture a Hrud warship and boarded it by Boarding Torpedo with two Mind Servitors.
• Santiago and the Mind Servitors fought through the Hrud ship, using psychic attacks and dimensional jumps against the enemy and the warped surroundings.
• Santiago selected Fire Crow Art from his records, burned several Hrud, then used the Viscount’s Imprisonment ability to trap another in transparent liquid.

The Shadow of the Throne and the Fourth Legion attacked the Hrud on Gorgis, using the planet’s daylight and tunnel entrances to prepare an ambush. Oliver and the Fourth Legion held their positions through the night against millions of Hrud.

• Arsena Dunn reported that the 5th Legion had secured the Volpa Star Canyon, while Malena Scala presented her new Slaugth-based constructs, which Nimrod ordered deployed on Gorgis.
• The Shadow of the Throne reached the Gugan System, and Diana Pauline led the fleet in a long-range attack that destroyed the Hrud’s defensive runes and drove their ships back.
• After scans found no Hrud on Gorgis’s surface, Nimrod ordered the Fourth Legion to land and hold the tunnel entrances, then chose an ambush site among the natural caverns.
• Oliver landed with the Fourth Legion, and his troops deployed Scorpion Turrets, seismic weapons, and other defenses around the tunnels.
• When night fell, Oliver and the Fourth Legion fought waves of Hrud, using turrets, incendiary weapons, and Concussion Weapons to kill them and collapse tunnels.
• The Fourth Legion continued defending the tunnel entrances through the night as millions of Hrud attacked.

Oliver fought the Hrud on Gorgis, became a true Spirit Medium, and helped Adams contract a Hrud ghost as a messenger. Nimrod demonstrated the new communication method, gave Oliver the Necromancer potion, and prepared to capture Herud of all Gorgis.

• Oliver and his Honor Guard fought the Hrud through the night, and several guards died as the Hrud's Entropy Field rapidly aged them.
• Oliver used Eye of Death to see a mass of Hrud ghosts and learned from one that the tunnel held the Hrud's archive of collected books.
• Adams bound the Hrud ghost to a necromantic contract as his messenger, and Oliver completed his transformation into a true Spirit Medium.
• At the command center, Diana summoned and dismissed Adams's messenger while Nimrod considered its advantages and limits as a means of communication.
• Nimrod ordered the Space Ape to brew a Necromancer potion, then gave Oliver a dose that Oliver drank successfully.
• Nimrod equipped a new banner and prepared to capture Herud of all Gorgis.

Nimrod used the Red Priest uniqueness and a Stasis Field to draw the Hrud on Gorgis into a battle, then silenced and defeated them after the distortion field overwhelmed the device. He promised to find a way to extend Arsena and Diana’s lives and ended the chapter identifying the Hrud’s Mycelium Tomes as ingredients for advancing Arsena.

• Arsena, Malena, and Diana finished engraving Runes on thirty-three pillars while Nimrod struggled to control the Red Priest uniqueness’s powerful charm.
• Nimrod activated Perturabo’s Stasis Device and used the Red Priest uniqueness to limit its effect to Gorgis, exposing the Hrud to attacks from the constructs and Tech Sergeants.
• As the Hrud’s distortion field overwhelmed the Stasis Field and aged Arsena, Diana, and Malena, Nimrod used 363 Silence Amulets to silence the Hrud across his range.
• Malena healed Arsena and Diana as best she could, and Nimrod promised that neither would die of old age before flying off to send the fallen Hrud into the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Oliver led the Honor Guard through the Hrud tunnels and retrieved their Mycelium Tomes, which Nimrod recognized as materials for Arsena’s Knowledge Keeper advancement and the Scholar potion.

Nimrod tortured Slau Dha for Aeldari secrets, then advanced Arsena to Sequence 6 and ordered him to analyze Beyonder abilities. After learning that Be'lakor had destroyed the civilizations in the Sak-Trada Abyss, Nimrod chose to focus on the Gugan System and prepare for a decisive battle against the Hrud.

• Nimrod bound Slau Dha, tormented him with the Hand of Order, and tried to make him submit with the Flagpole, but Slau Dha resisted.
• Nimrod considered his advancement plans, then gave Arsena a Scholar potion that restored much of his drained life force and advanced him to Sequence 6.
• Nimrod ordered Arsena to analyze the Royal Court Friars' abilities under the concealment of the Euclidean Sigil.
• Arsena reported that Hrud Mycelium Tomes described Lady Hera and said Be'lakor had destroyed the civilizations whose ruins lay in the Sak-Trada Abyss.
• Arsena reported that Hrud warships were gathering in the Gugan System and that the deployment of the Ramillies-class Star Fortresses was underway.
• Nimrod ordered a route planned so his forces could engage the Hrud in a decisive battle.

In the Gugan System, Nimrod unleashed the Shadow of the Throne’s ancient Void Claws against the Herud fleet, opening a black hole that devastated their forces. The Second Legion then advanced to Craven, where Notarized Sun Priests used enhanced powers to drive back Herud emerging from the caverns.

• Wilshire’s Song of Slaughter attacked the Herud fleet, but the Shadow of the Sun and other ships were destroyed by the Herud’s temporal waves.
• Nimrod authorized the Shadow of the Throne’s Void Claws, which opened a black hole and tore apart much of the Herud fleet.
• Diana coordinated with Adams as part of the Fourth Legion stayed behind to destroy surviving Herud ships, while the remaining forces headed for Craven.
• Wilshire and the Notary empowered the Sun Priests, including Olivier, with Notarized abilities before they deployed to the battlefields.
• Olivier led the Honor Guard into a cavern, where his golden halo and holy fire destroyed Herud until he ordered a retreat as the power’s range contracted.