Chapter Summaries

Nimrod planted an informant near the future Inquisition, rewarded Barton with a Warrior elixir, and arranged new duties for Kion and the Dark Fire Titan Legion. On Mars, he negotiated access to Mark IV armor technology in exchange for an STC, and Varia Superior signed the agreement after Nimrod fulfilled his promise.

• Nimrod told Barton to have his grandniece watch Sanga's lord and report if Lemuel Gaumon married Malika, then gave Barton a Warrior elixir.
• Kion left with Barton to serve Nimrod on Terra, believing he had been assigned a sacred mission.
• Nimrod ordered Schurtzeler to return Dark Fire to Huangquan VIII and maintain contact with the princeps of Lord of Destruction.
• On Mars, Nimrod offered the Adeptus Mechanicus a Power Armor STC in exchange for Tech Sergeants to help develop a new armor generation.
• A month later, the Tenth Chapter's Shadowsword arrived at the Gate of Bliss, and Fabricator-General Unai-9 signed Varia Superior's agreement.

Mago led the 18th Company against Genna under Angron’s thirty-one-hour deadline, but chose to rescue the surrounded 44th Company instead of pressing the attack. The countdown expired as the World Eaters withdrew, and Mago returned toward the Conqueror beneath Angron’s looming shadow.

• Angron ordered the World Eaters to suppress Genna’s rebellion within thirty-one hours, and Mago prepared the 18th Company to deploy.
• On Genna’s moon, Galan Surak performed a ritual and heard the Black Emperor predict that Mago’s company would face decimation and that Varis would resist Angron.
• Mago’s forces fought through Genna, but he could not obtain orbital support and saw the World Eaters’ disorganized assault causing heavy losses.
• When the 44th Company called for aid, Mago chose to rescue his battle-brothers instead of advancing through Marco’s gates.
• The countdown reached zero, and Mago ordered his company to withdraw together as the World Eaters abandoned their attack.
• Mago’s Stormbird rose toward the Conqueror as Angron’s shadow flickered ahead.

Mago defied Angron’s order to decimate the World Eaters, and the Primarch’s ensuing rampage was stopped when Varis and the Librarians joined forces with Galan Surak. Nimrod then praised Galan for preventing further deaths and instructed him to use the Butcher’s Nails to preserve Mago’s life.

• Angron ordered the World Eaters to decimate their ranks, and Mago refused to kill Salier, his battle-brother.
• Angron erupted into violence, killing dozens of World Eaters as Tais and the Librarians tried to restrain him psychically.
• Varis injected Angron with Nucerian anesthetic, knocking him unconscious, while Galan Surak stopped Kharn from attacking the Librarians.
• Galan reported to Nimrod, who instructed him to research the Butcher’s Nails, spare Mago, and implant the Nails Nimrod had provided.

Galan Surak successfully destroyed a Butcher’s Nails implant with high-frequency sound while continuing research into controlling the implants. When Mago and Locke came to confront him over the Legion’s fate, Surak ambushed them and brought down both men.

• Galan used tuned high-frequency sound waves to rupture a Butcher’s Nails implant and continued testing his research.
• Mago awakened Locke, the Legion’s First Man, and told him about Angron’s plans to implant the Legion with the Nails.
• Locke agreed to seek answers from Surak, while Mago planned to kill the Apothecary and destroy the implants.
• Galan watched Mago and Locke approach through hidden Worm Eyes, then knocked Mago unconscious with his Nathersim Gauntlet.
• Locke attacked Galan, but Galan used a potion to vanish, triggered electrical defenses, and struck Locke in the neck until the Dreadnought’s head drooped.

Galan implanted the Butcher's Nails in Mago and used his Resonance Blaster to restore Mago's reason, while Nimrod influenced Mago to remain patient. Nimrod judged his plan to divide the World Eaters on track, then ordered Adams to take the Fourth Legion to Valhalla as its recruitment world.

• Galan implanted the Butcher's Nails in Mago, whose pain and fury drove him into a frenzy.
• Galan used the Resonance Blaster to quiet Mago's rage, and Mago feared he would become a beast like Angron.
• Galan told Mago to stay patient, and Nimrod used the black mist's power to ease Mago's doubts.
• Nimrod assessed that Galan's work and support among the World Eaters would help divide the Legion into three factions.
• Nimrod gave Adams a star map to Valhalla and ordered him to make it the Fourth Legion's recruitment world.

Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to locate Aureus and traveled there with the Shadow of Order to secure its complete set of STC construction machines. He received a warm welcome from Fabricator-Consul Emory Salinako, but recognized that winning Aureus’s leaders over would take time as the delegation entered the planet’s fortress.

• Nimrod divined a star chart to Aureus and ordered Tierney and Maria Kournikova to board the Shadow of the Throne.
• Nimrod recalled how Horus had killed Aureus’s Fabricator-Consul and how the Sons of Horus had destroyed the planet after taking two STCs.
• Nimrod arrived on Aureus with Jurjur and Maria Kournikova, where Fabricator-Consul Emory Salinako welcomed him and introduced the planet’s silver-armored Warriors.
• Emory explained that Aureus’s construction machines brought from Terra remained central to its society, and Nimrod recognized them as the STCs he wanted.
• Nimrod rode toward Aureus’s steel fortress and remembered that the World Eaters had destroyed it and slaughtered its people.

Nimrod sent Tierney to steal the identifying data for Aureus’s Standard Template construction machine from mechanical consul Andoni. Tierney returned the data to Nimrod, who ordered a Mechanic Expert to replicate the Orpheus Key so they could pass verification and obtain the machinery.

• Nimrod decided Tierney should infiltrate the Iron Fortress after learning Andoni controlled the construction machinery and was difficult to approach.
• Tierney used his Yeld Hunt-Master Suit to reach Andoni’s room, but avoided entering because its security sensors might detect him.
• Tierney used his theft ability to take the construction machine’s location and identifying rune codes, then temporarily took Andoni’s silver Key.
• Tierney wrapped the silver Key with the Rosicky Key and returned it to Andoni before sending the Rosicky Key through an illusory gate to Nimrod.
• Nimrod received the Key data, handed the Orpheus Key to a Mechanic Expert, and ordered him to replicate it.

Tierney led the Flame Stealers in Operation Prometheus to steal Standard Template data and the Construction Machine’s formulas. Andoni’s unexpected return nearly exposed the operation, but Tierney stole his thought and completed the formula while the Flame Stealers finished their downloads.

• Tierney distributed scrolls, keys, and Data Crystals to the twenty-nine Flame Stealers and briefed them on Operation Prometheus.
• Tierney and the Flame Stealers infiltrated the mechanical Spire and its connected Manufacturing Centers.
• Andoni unexpectedly turned back toward the Construction Machine, so Tierney stole his thought about Formula 293 and left him temporarily blank-minded.
• The Flame Stealers used the scrolls to put the operators to sleep and downloaded Standard Template data from the Cogitators.
• Tierney derived Formula 293, scanned the Construction Machine’s formulas, and received reports that the Flame Stealers had succeeded.
• Tierney deleted the data logs from the twenty-nine Manufacturing Centers.

Galan Surak rallied World Eaters captains around the Butcher’s Nails, while Nimrod directed him to gather Hrud-parasitized bodies and ordered Rosicky Cech to secure independent production of new Power Armor. The chapter left Galan and Rosicky carrying out Nimrod’s plans as the World Eaters’ role in the coming Great Birthday Celebration approached.

• Galan Surak addressed a gathering of World Eaters captains, who believed the Butcher’s Nails had improved Angron’s treatment of the Legion.
• Galan recalled Angron demanding a thousand warriors implanted with the Nails and learned that Kharn and the 8th Assault Company ignored the Resonance Blasters.
• Galan prayed to Nimrod, who told him to continue concealing Nimrod’s existence and gave him instructions to obtain human bodies parasitized by the Hrud.
• Nimrod transferred Angron’s genetic material to a palace in the First Layer Space and summoned Rosicky Cech to hear his report on Aureus Power Armor manufacturing.
• Nimrod ordered Rosicky to go to Mars, join the development of new Power Armor, and master its manufacturing process so it could be produced independently.

Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to locate the Hand of Darkness, an artifact that could control Blackstone Fortresses, and learned it was on Purgatory Star. Divinations revealed strange creatures there, so he ordered forces to investigate and secure the planet.

• Nimrod chose to divine the location of the Hand of Darkness, hoping to gain control of Blackstone IV before the coming war.
• The Dice of Prophecy revealed a star chart locating the Hand of Darkness on Purgatory Star in Segmentum Obscurus, though the divination greatly extended its cooldown.
• Nimrod sent information about Purgatory Star to Flamini and William Wood and asked John to perform divinations as well.
• John saw gray-white rivers across a blood-red land, Flamini glimpsed a blood-red scarecrow, and William saw a monkey-shaped creature herding sheep.
• Nimrod recognized the scarecrow and herder as main ingredients for the Sequence 5 Shepherd potion and ordered the First Chapter and 10th Battalion to Purgatory Star.

Michal’s forces captured Blood Red Scarecrows and Herd Keepers on Purgatory Star, and Ramsey brought a Herd Keeper to Nimrod to use in his Shepherd promotion. When the Hand of Darkness interfered with Ramsey’s ritual and seized his soul, Nimrod invoked the Hand of Order to break its grasp, and Ramsey completed his advancement.

• Michal ordered his troops to capture the Blood Red Scarecrows, then used his powers to restrain them while his Honor Guard imprisoned them.
• The 10th Battalion’s Hermits ambushed the Herd Keepers, but one Keeper used a sheep’s flesh to attack them until Ramsey trapped it in blood and flesh.
• Ramsey delivered the captured Herd Keeper to Nimrod, who sent Aetsak away before beginning the promotion ritual.
• Ramsey separated his body of light and drank the reagent, but the ritual’s pain disrupted his soul as he struggled to return to his body.
• The Hand of Darkness reached for Ramsey’s soul, and Nimrod used the Hand of Order to prohibit its corruptive influence and strengthen reality.
• Ramsey’s soul returned to his body, completing his promotion to Shepherd, and he praised Nimrod for saving him.

Nimrod advanced Ramsey to Shepherd and ordered him to gather souls for an Honor Guard before setting out to confront the Hand of Darkness. He seized the artifact from a statue of Morai-Heg, while a pair of eyes beyond the veil turned toward Purgatory Star.

• Nimrod ordered Ramsey to graze Wraiths and Evil Spirits on Sonem VIII, recruit Royal Court members for an Honor Guard, and replace the grazed souls every hundred years.
• Ramsey accepted Nimrod’s orders and withdrew to meditate and rest after his painful advancement to Shepherd.
• Nimrod used reports from the Auger Matrix Master, the First Chapter, and the 10th Battalion to locate the Hand of Darkness.
• Nimrod recognized a statue of Morai-Heg and resisted the corrupting thoughts caused by the black claw in its hand.
• Nimrod seized the Hand of Darkness and thought that Abaddon might as well never obtain it; beyond the veil, a pair of eyes turned toward Purgatory Star.

Tzeentch shaped a vision of Cadia and Lorgar, while Inger-Sel received a divine mission to guide Lorgar to the Eye of Night and an artifact on Onswold. Nimrod examined the Hand of Darkness and recognized it as the Hanged Man pathway’s Uniqueness, which he planned to use to control the Blackstone Fortress.

• Tzeentch focused on threads of fate involving Abaddon, Cadia, Lorgar, and the Eye of Night.
• Inger-Sel dreamed that the gods had chosen her to guide Lorgar Aurelian and promised to raise her as Inger-Sel the Ascendant.
• The gods instructed Inger-Sel to lead Lorgar to Onswold and obtain the Eye of Night, and she proclaimed her calling to the gathered Barbarians.
• Nimrod examined the Hand of Darkness and identified it as the Hanged Man pathway’s Uniqueness rather than a Dark Angel Beyonder characteristic.
• Nimrod concluded that he could not yet use the Uniqueness directly, but could use it to control the Blackstone Fortress.

Nimrod investigated the psychic Hera and used the Dice of Prophecy to divine the Eye of Night on Onswold, but the divination nearly failed and other attempts produced no revelations. He responded by deciding to send a Librarian and the 10th Battalion to investigate.

• Nimrod heard Galan Surak report that the Hera were a psychic-nourished race whose bodies changed as they matured.
• Nimrod distributed Hera corpses among researchers and agents, then moved the remaining bodies to use in divining the Origin Space.
• Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to seek the Eye of Night on Onswold, but the dice barely completed the divination even after he invoked the Red Priest Uniqueness and the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Flamini tried several divination methods concerning Onswold and received no revelation, while Nimrod learned that William Wood's divination also failed.
• Nimrod decided to dispatch a Librarian with the Eye of Secrecy and the concealment-capable 10th Battalion to Onswold.

Sasebo Tezuka and his squads were ambushed by Onswold’s Ratlings, and Lord Ramsey arrived to destroy the attackers. After Ramsey offered to recommend him for the Honor Guard, Sasebo asked to join Ramsey’s personal guard and accepted its commitment to serve even after death.

• Sasebo Tezuka’s squad landed on Onswold and was ambushed by Ratlings concealed in the darkness.
• Sasebo Tezuka and his warriors fought back, but Tresoldi and Ordonez were killed as the Ratlings surrounded them.
• Lord Ramsey and the Honor Guard arrived, routed the Ratlings, and Ramsey’s spirits subdued an attacking Evil Spirit.
• Ramsey praised Sasebo Tezuka for twice giving up a place in the Honor Guard to stay with his brothers and offered to recommend him.
• Sasebo Tezuka asked to join Ramsey’s guard, and Ramsey explained that its members served him and the Legion after death as well as in life.
• Sasebo Tezuka knelt and declared that he had the resolve to accept; Ramsey agreed.

Thomas found the statue of Lileath on Black Onyx Peak, and Nimrod seized the Eye of Night from it. Tzeentch realized his plan had failed because Nimrod had acted faster and began weaving a new one.

• Thomas froze the Laitlin, climbed Black Onyx Peak, and found a statue of Lileath before withdrawing to alert the Black Emperor.
• Nimrod arrived at the summit, fought through the Ratlings' fire, and took the Eye of Night from the statue.
• Nimrod concluded the Eye of Night was likely the Darkness pathway's Uniqueness and wondered whether Abaddon had caused the divination anomaly.
• Tzeentch saw that Nimrod had acted faster and that Monarchia had not been destroyed, then began devising a new plan.

Tzeentch devised a new plan involving the Blackstone Fortress and Grael, while Inger-Sel received a vision telling her to guide Lorgar toward faith and power. Nimrod considered his Uniquenesses as Harun Swenseren, reassigned to the White Scars, became Togon and joined Jaghatai's tribe.

• Tzeentch wove a new plan around the Blackstone Fortress, Grael, and other fleets and forces.
• Inger-Sel heard the Four Gods promise that Lorgar would gain power through faith, and she vowed to guide him.
• Nimrod examined the Eye of Night, recognized it as the Darkness pathway's Uniqueness, and planned to take Blackstone No. 4.
• Harun Swenseren recalled being reassigned to the 5th Legion after ranking seventeenth and missing selection for the Shadow of Order.
• Harun learned the Khorchin language and spent years adapting to the White Scars before Khan Yemulan Noyan gave him the name Togon.
• Togon accepted the Curved Power Sword and joined Jaghatai's tribe and the Brotherhood.

The Von Valancius fleet was swept into the Grael Abyss, where Orks overwhelmed the Conner and killed Ibrahim. One stellar year later, the fleets of nine Ork warlords left the Grael Abyss and headed toward the Soshio Star Strait.

• A Warp storm scattered the nine Von Valancius ships across the Grael Abyss, and Navigator Visher told Ibrahim they could not return to their route.
• The Conner’s failing Warp engines drew the attention of Orks, and Ibrahim ordered the ship to fight as more than a hundred enemy craft closed in.
• Orks boarded the Conner, and Ibrahim fought them with his las-pistol and Chainsword before a massive Ork killed him.
• Ork warlord Virgil ordered his boyz to loot the ship and promised to lead them to the humans’ world.
• One stellar year later, the fleets of nine Ork warlords left the Grael Abyss and surged toward the Soshio Star Strait.

Librarian Gomez watched Casteldeg destroy an Ork asteroid fortress, but seven more overwhelmed the Ramillies-class Star Fortress and killed him. The seven Ork warlords then charged into different regions of the Colonid Sector.

• Gomez failed to divine what was coming and joined the command crew as Casteldeg attacked an approaching Ork asteroid fortress.
• Casteldeg destroyed the first asteroid fortress, then detected a growing threat from seven more.
• The captain ordered the northern sector to fire, destroying one asteroid fortress, but another shattered the fortress’s shield and tilted Casteldeg.
• Gomez tried to protect the command chamber as an asteroid fortress crashed into it, but an Ork killed him.
• Ork Ravagers descended on Casteldeg, while the seven Ork warlords charged into different regions of the Colonid Sector.

Jeremy and the Valhallan Ice Warriors defended Mill World from an Ork assault, destroying attacking ships and holding the city wall against the green tide. After Jeremy promised them food, fruit salad, and wine for victory, more Orks and Stompas gathered for the next attack.

• Valhallan anti-aircraft guns destroyed Ork transports, while infantry teams hunted survivors in the wreckage.
• Ork Steel Pack-Beasts advanced on the city, and Valhallan artillery and lasgun volleys cut down their forces as Jeremy fought alongside the defenders.
• Valhallans repelled Orks who used jump packs to reach the wall, then watched the enemy retreat in disorder.
• Jeremy praised the Valhallans' discipline and promised them plentiful Oveja Meat Cans, fruit salad, and wine if they drove the Orks from Mill World.
• More Orks gathered at their camp as landers arrived and warships unloaded bloated Stompas.