Chapter Summaries

Hasik prepared to make way for the Shadow of Order at Horde as Jaghatai announced Nimrod’s arrival, while Mikel tested a stronger voiceless potion made with a Barbarus Overlord’s arm. The rival fleets deployed around the Nephilim homeworld, where Hasik challenged the Shadow of Order to a race toward the center point and led his bikes into battle.

• Hasik learned from Jaghatai that the Shadow of Order had arrived and was to be given room in orbit over Horde.
• Mikel drank a potion made with diluted blood from Omega, gaining strength and briefly manifesting black flames before the Black Emperor warned him to restrain himself.
• Mikel injected a Grey Nephilim with a voiceless potion and found that an arm from a Barbarus Overlord greatly increased its effect.
• Mikel recorded his results as the Grey Nephilim’s mouth and throat were exposed for further examination.
• The White Scars and the Shadow of Order deployed at opposite ends of Horde’s orbit, and Hasik led six hundred bikes in a race toward the center point.

The White Scars attacked Horde, with Khan Hasik leading a charge against the Nephilim’s Church of Praise while Ramsey infiltrated the enemy ranks. Ramsey severed the Nephilim’s two encrypted communication channels for the first time, allowing the black vehicles to overwhelm them and advance into the grey-fog jungle.

• Khan Hasik led the White Scars’ charge through Horde’s toxic marshes toward the Church of Praise, where Nephilim guards killed four of his brothers with sonic weapons.
• Hasik dodged the guards’ attack and split an ancient Blue Nephilim with his guandao.
• Ramsey killed a Green Nephilim, took control of a Grey Nephilim, and used it to lead five Green Nephilim and ten “Hermits” into the enemy army.
• The “Hermits” released chemicals and a black crystal that silenced the Nephilim and darkened their patterns, cutting off both layers of their encrypted communication.
• The black vehicles swept through the disorganized Nephilim as Ramsey’s group sowed chaos and the black tide advanced toward the grey-fog jungle.

Nimrod defeated the Nephilim bishop and captured the surviving Nephilim after preventing their mass-sacrifice plan. Jaghatai Khan then asked Nimrod to train Hasik, whom Nimrod privately recognized as a potential target for corruption.

• Nimrod protected a Listener from a Nephilim attack, then flew into the cathedral district and imprisoned its Nephilim defenders in amber.
• Nimrod’s Hermits stopped the Nephilim from detonating atomic explosives, while Ramsey destroyed a Grey Nephilim in a bomb storeroom.
• The Nephilim bishop attacked Nimrod with the screams of billions of souls, but Nimrod resisted, seized the bishop’s black blade, and imprisoned him in amber.
• Nimrod sent the captured Nephilim into the Kingdom of Disorder and met Jaghatai Khan, who praised him for completing the hunt first.
• Jaghatai ordered Hasik to follow Nimrod and learn from the Shadow of Order, and Hasik gladly accepted.

After the war against the Nephilim, Nimrod reviewed the Shadow of Order’s casualties and advanced Pat and Tierney to Sequence 6. In the year 885, he used the Dice of Prophecy to chart a route to Perturabo and decided to have the Calamity Priest divine the danger facing Lion and Calas Typhon.

• Arsena Dunn reported the Shadow of Order’s casualties, the Nephilim sonic weapons research, and a new encrypted communication language.
• Nimrod gave Pat a Hypnotist potion and made him Chief Chaplain of the Legion, tasking him with examining the Shadows of Order’s thoughts and strengthening their faith.
• Nimrod gave Tierney a Flame Stealer potion and considered how its ability to steal extraordinary powers and corruption could be used.
• Nimrod confirmed that divining the uniqueness had permanently extended the Dice of Prophecy’s cooldown by a month and used it to obtain a star chart from the Carium Gate to Perturabo.
• Nimrod passed information about Perturabo to John and resolved to have the Calamity Priest divine what Lion and Calas Typhon were facing.

Nimrod learned that Changelings had taken control of Pertitus and sent the First Chapter to find them. On Planet VI, Howard Fender exposed and captured a Changeling, warning the fleeing people that xenos had infiltrated their world.

• Nimrod used dream divination to learn about the Changelings on Pertitus and ordered the First Chapter to accompany him there.
• Nimrod's fleet reached Planet VI after receiving no response from either inhabited world, and he ordered scans focused beneath the planet's surface.
• Howard Fender sensed something wrong among the silent Pertitus crowd as the landing force arrived.
• Howard used his spiritual power to force a Changeling out of its disguise, then destroyed its tongue and bound it.
• Howard warned the fleeing Pertitus people that xenos had taken control of their world and infiltrated their society.

Michal interrogated a captured Changeling while Hasik led the White Scars to attack a Changeling gathering on Perturabo. After the Changelings disguised themselves as White Scars, Pat used Dragon Might to expose them, and Hasik ordered their capture.

• Michal freed the captured Changeling from amber, trapped him in an invisible prison, and used psychic attacks to demand the location of his kind.
• Hasik assembled his Brotherhood and led the White Scars toward a noble palace after Borgo confirmed Xenos inside.
• The White Scars charged the estate and killed many Changelings, but the creatures attacked them, stole their blood, and took on their appearance.
• Pat warned Hasik that Changelings had become White Scars and directed the Shadow of Order to target warriors with Astartes physiques who lacked Power Armor.
• Hasik gathered his Brotherhood and tested them by asking each to give a name and a Chogorian saying, while Pat devised a faster way to identify the infiltrators.
• Pat unleashed Dragon Might, causing the disguised Changelings to falter while the White Scars resisted, and Hasik ordered the exposed Xenos seized.

Nimrod used his newly advanced powers to locate the Tuchulcha Engine, disrupt its attempt to flee, and capture it in the Kingdom of Disorder. After trapping the Changelings caught in the resulting chaos, he entered the newly opened Ninth Layer Space.

• Nimrod identified five anomalous areas and flew with Arsena Dunn to Area C to search for the Tuchulcha Engine.
• Nimrod sensed the hidden Wizard, Changelings, and Witch as they tracked, captured, or killed the disguised intruders.
• Nimrod found the Tuchulcha Engine teleporting Changelings into and out of a deep cavern, then used Mind Gate and Chaos to interrupt its escape.
• Nimrod seized the Tuchulcha Engine and stored it in the Third Layer Space, while his progress opened the Ninth Layer Space.
• Nimrod trapped the Changelings in the chaotic region, encased them in amber, sent them into the First Layer Space, and went to the Ninth Layer Space.

Nimrod brought William Wood into the Kingdom of Disorder and helped him advance to Faceless One, then used the Shadow of Order to expose and purge Changelings on Perturabo II and VI. After ordering the planets developed as industrial worlds, Nimrod recruited Hasik into the Red Priest pathway, leaving him poised to become the White Scars’ most powerful Noyan-Khan.

• Nimrod summoned William Wood to the Kingdom of Disorder and gave him the Faceless One potion, which William survived and learned to use for shapeshifting.
• Nimrod considered using Faceless Ones to infiltrate the Legions during the Great Birthday Celebration and warned William to remain himself while impersonating others.
• Three months later, the Shadow of Order exposed a Changeling posing as King Kael on Perturabo II, and the people praised their liberators.
• Arsena Dunn reported casualties from the campaigns on Perturabo II and VI, and Nimrod ordered Tech Sergeants to garrison both planets and develop them as industrial worlds.
• Nimrod gave Hasik a hunter potion, and Hasik pledged to serve him, setting him on course to become a powerful Noyan-Khan.

Nimrod led the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Legions into the Cradle of Serpents to secure materials for transforming immortals. After Warp disturbances briefly affected the fleet, it reached the Aeldari star system and began navigating its deadly asteroid belt toward the twelve living worlds.

• Nimrod ordered the expedition to sail for the Cradle of Serpents with forces from the Second and Fourth Legions and two companies of the 5th Legion.
• During the Warp crossing, a serpent-like presence disturbed the Librarians and other Psykers, but Thomas guided the Librarians into the Thelema Mindset and the disturbances subsided.
• Shadow of the Throne emerged in the Cradle of Serpents, where the Astropath choir had lost communications and the fleet reported no casualties from the Warp phenomena.
• Nimrod ordered a full system scan, revealing twelve inhabited worlds orbiting Serpent Alpha and Serpent Beta in a double-helix pattern.
• Nimrod assigned the 5th Legion's Astrologers to guide the fleet through the hazardous rock belt, and the ships began their passage into the system.

Hasik and Miguel Questa’s force attacked an Organic Spire on Planet II and used a forbidden Glass Grenade to unleash a Warp Brain-worm against the twin serpents in the Sea of Souls. The collision disrupted the Cradle of Serpents, and a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh sent its Daemons pouring from the spires.

• Nimrod ordered the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Companies to land separately on Planet II, Planet I, and Planet III, with Librarians assigned to each force.
• Hasik rode into Planet II’s forest and drew a swarm of purple serpents while Miguel Questa and the Librarians burned through them and approached an Organic Spire.
• Miguel identified a dangerous energy balance in the spire and opened a fissure without triggering an explosion.
• Miguel threw a Glass Grenade inside the spire, releasing a Warp Brain-worm that collided with the twin serpents in the Sea of Souls and tore a chunk from one serpent’s abdomen.
• The impact dimmed the blue light on the sixth planet and turned the Cradle of Serpents’ glow deep purple as strange creatures emerged from the Organic Spires.
• A Greater Daemon of Slaanesh drove its Daemons out of the spires.

Wilshire’s forces used the Tri-pedal Solar Walkers to destroy a mutated lizard, while Kion’s company and Thomas’s Librarians fought Slaaneshi creatures on other planets. Thomas’s group routed the cultists and advanced toward the source of the corruption.

• Notary protected Wilshire’s squad with Solar Halo as the Organic Spire’s energy drove nearby herbivores into a frenzy.
• Forty-one Tri-pedal Solar Walkers cut apart the giant mutated lizard with golden beams.
• Kion and Okafor encountered Slaaneshi Steeds, and the Necromancer raised bones to hold them back.
• Thomas ordered a Stormbird attack on the corrupted island settlement and then led ten Librarians in using Gryphon’s Roar against the Slaaneshi Cultists.
• Thomas and the surviving Librarians advanced toward the source of the evil they had sensed.

Thomas defeated the Slaaneshi Champion at the Moon-shaped Temple as Nimrod confronted the Slaaneshi Greater Daemon on Planet Six. The daemon offered Nimrod the power to devour souls, but Nimrod refused.

• Thomas destroyed a cauldron of flesh and led the Chief Librarians through the island, where they fought Slaaneshi Cultists.
• Thomas bound the Slaaneshi Champion with Catachan Bramble, then slew him with golden gryphon light after reaching the eighth-layer Mindset state of Magnus.
• Nimrod watched etheric energy converge on the Twin Stars and ordered the Shadow of the Throne to prepare for takeoff so he could reach Planet Six and confront the daemon.
• Nimrod left the fighter with Freddy and John, crossed the void through a Gate of Infinity, and killed tens of thousands of Daemons with Gryphon's Roar.
• The Slaaneshi Greater Daemon offered Nimrod and his offspring the power to devour souls, but Nimrod resisted its tempting visions and refused.

Nimrod freed the Aeldari souls trapped by the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh and destroyed the structures connecting the daemon to the Twin Stars of the Serpent. The purple corruption vanished across the star system, and Nimrod’s digestion advanced as he escaped the blue flames.

• Nimrod used the Spear of Dionysus to destroy the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh’s body, freeing tens of thousands of Aeldari souls and weakening him.
• The Greater Daemon re-formed and attacked Nimrod, who struck him again with the Spear of Dionysus and realized the Twin Stars might need to be destroyed together.
• Nimrod sent Freddy and John to Serpent Beta, where Freddy used the Ring of Fire and the Calamity Priest’s remaining spirituality to silence its serpent-shaped structure.
• Nimrod attacked the corresponding structure on Serpent Alpha, and both structures were destroyed, severing the Greater Daemon’s connection to the Twin Stars.
• The Greater Daemon lost the remaining Aeldari souls he had devoured, while the purple light across the star system disappeared and blue light took its place.
• Nimrod’s digestion reached two-thirds and the Tenth Layer Space of the Kingdom of Disorder opened; he sent Freddy and John into it and fled Serpent Beta’s orbit.

Nimrod used the Cradle of Serpents’ spiritual spring water to transform Arsena Dunn and others into immortals, then expanded the ritual across the Legion. Malena Scala’s transformation affected her spirit in an unusual way, leaving Nimrod to investigate why she was different.

• Nimrod found the spiritually potent spring water on Planet VI, collected it, and discovered that the Tenth Layer Space could support remote Black Box transactions.
• Nimrod transformed Arsena Dunn into a Perpetual, and Arsena vowed to serve him forever.
• Nimrod assigned the Cradle of Serpents’ twelve planets to the Legion’s twelve Chapters and began transforming Malena Scala and Diana Pauline.
• Malena’s transformation changed her spirit as well as her body, and Nimrod noticed that she emerged from the process later than Diana.
• Nimrod expanded the transformations to selected pathway leaders and Legion officers, naming the spring water the Fountain of Youth after confirming its connection to the Ageless Witch.
• Nimrod excluded Hasik from the immortality ritual for now and began arranging his own transformation after Hasik advanced to Sequence 7, Pyromancer.

Nimrod transformed in the Fountain of Youth, and the Kingdom of Disorder opened its Eleventh Layer Space early, granting him a resurrection ability centered on a mausoleum. Afterward, he reviewed reports about resources found across the planets and prepared to use the Dice of Prophecy.

• Nimrod activated the transformation ritual with John and Brainy Cat, while the Fountain of Youth and the Kingdom of Disorder reacted to his transformation.
• Nimrod used Telekinesis to replenish the spring as the Kingdom of Disorder formed a mausoleum in its Eleventh Layer Space and revealed a resurrection ability that would return him there.
• Nimrod learned he could resurrect there as long as he still bore the duty of evolution, though he would lose his possessions if killed.
• Nimrod's transformation restored the life he had lost facing the King of the Herud, and he planned to return to the Abyss of Zaku-Trada after Perturabo improved the Stasis Device.
• Chief Librarian Thomas reported Psyker Crystal veins and Moon-shaped Metals on the planets, and Nimrod ordered them mined.
• Nimrod went to the third layer of the Kingdom of Disorder and picked up the fully charged Dice of Prophecy.

Nimrod used the Tuchulcha Engine to transport his fleet from the Cradle of Serpents to the Sonnem System in two months. After arriving, he ordered the fleet to make for Planet Eight.

• Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to obtain a star chart to the Sonnem System and established communication with the Tuchulcha Engine.
• Nimrod asked the Tuchulcha Engine to transport a fleet, then ordered the 7th Companies of the Fourth Legion and the 5th Legion to gather around the Shadow of the Throne.
• The Tuchulcha Engine transported the fleet through the Warp in a bubble-like passage that Nimrod could not understand.
• The fleet emerged in the Sonnem System in the sixth standard month of 894, and Diana Pauline restored order among the officers on the Shadow of the Throne.
• Arsena Dunn reported that the journey had taken two months instead of the predicted five, and Nimrod selected Planet Eight as the target.

Adams led the Death Wither’s forces to Sonem VIII, where he discovered the planet’s dead were trapped in endless battles as Wraiths and evil spirits. He subdued many of them, but his power was nearly exhausted when a colossal Ten-Thousand-Armed Evil Spirit attacked.

• Adams learned that Sonem VIII’s two alien civilizations had destroyed each other, leaving the planet filled with death and the psychic echoes of their final battle.
• The Death Wither’s forces landed near a ruined Hive City, and Adams heard the voices of two kinds of alien Ghosts.
• Adams identified the battling Ghosts as Wraiths and used the Words of Death to command them to approach.
• Adams subdued an attacking evil spirit and continued through the battlefield, using his power to control more spirits.
• A colossal Ten-Thousand-Armed Evil Spirit emerged from the ruins and struck at Adams and the gathered dead.
• Adams commanded the giant spirit, but as his strength failed, he rolled aside from its descending palms.

Adams killed a powerful Ten-Thousand-Armed Evil Spirit on Sonem VIII and recovered a crystal and powder that completed the ingredients for the Gatekeeper potion. Nimrod ordered the planet’s mines developed under the protection of death-wielding Viscounts, but fourteen stellar days later a Fourth Legion Tech Sergeant went mad while exploring a mining zone.

• Adams and the Fourth Legion’s troops attacked the Ten-Thousand-Armed Evil Spirit, and Adams exposed and shattered its inner weakness with his Concussion Weapon.
• Adams collected the dead spirit’s crystal and green powder, which Nimrod recognized as the remaining ingredients for the Gatekeeper potion.
• Mikel drank the Crimson Scholar potion under the full moon, gained new abilities, and received Nimrod’s instruction to study the moon.
• Adams reported that the Royal Court Friars had gained ghost servants and improved their mastery of death, while Nimrod ordered Viscounts stationed at Sonem VIII’s mines.
• Fourteen stellar days later, a Fourth Legion Tech Sergeant assigned to explore a mining zone went mad.

Nimrod investigated why Isidor had gone mad on Sonem VIII and suspected that something in the equatorial trench had influenced him. After Isidor was interrogated and purified, Nimrod decided to lead an expedition to investigate the trench.

• Nimrod reviewed Isidor’s record and learned that he had gone mad after reaching the end of an ore vein near the equatorial trench.
• Nimrod ordered Pat and Martin to interrogate Isidor, suspecting an unknown force had interfered with him.
• Under hypnosis, Isidor recalled seeing submerged buildings and black liquid filled with dead faces before believing he had joined his xenos people.
• Martin purified Isidor, and Pat told him he would be punished for attacking his battle-brothers.
• Nimrod read the interrogation report and decided to lead a team to investigate the trench.

Nimrod investigated the trench on Sonem VIII and confirmed it connected to an underworld. He advanced Adams to Gatekeeper, then ordered the others away from the trench and prepared to visit another place he had chosen to court death.

• Nimrod led Mikel, Adams, and Nicholas into the trench, where ghosts and psychic phenomena attacked them.
• Mikel dispelled the green influence around the group, allowing them to descend to a corrupted church radiating the aura of the underworld.
• Nimrod concocted a Gatekeeper potion and sent Adams toward the aura, where Adams drank it and advanced, drawing a powerful evil spirit into his body.
• Nimrod rescued the others from the renewed cold and ordered Adams to keep anyone without the power of death five kilometers from the equator.
• The next day, Nimrod brought Oliver, Kion, and fourteen others to the trench to advance them to Gatekeeper, then decided not to investigate the underworld further and set out for another place to court death.