Chapter Summaries

Magnus presented the Osiron psychic crown, while Vulkan sought his help completing the Saturnine Terminator. Nimrod arranged to join the research at the Kolane-Far Rim system and secretly ordered his agents to claim its resources and influence its researchers.

• Magnus unveiled the Osiron crown and offered its schematics, while Russ mocked it and Mortarion condemned it.
• Sanguinius, Jaghatai, and Vulkan accepted Magnus's offer, and Vulkan asked Magnus to help mass-produce the Saturnine Terminator's Fabian interface.
• Nimrod recognized the Kolane-Far Rim system as a valuable research site and offered to send his Legion's experts to assist.
• Magnus arranged access to the research base with Jaghatai's approval, and Nimrod sent Rosicky Cech and Miguel Questa to join the project.
• Nimrod ordered Santiago Bergkamp to observe the Great Maelstrom, Per Koschelny to send guards who would carry out Corrosion, and Pat to send chaplains to alter the researchers' subconscious.

The Council of Terra debated whether Psykers should be banned, as several councilors argued for their value and others warned of the danger they posed. Malcador said the Master of Mankind would judge their appeals, then led the councilors to the launch of Petronella Capinus’s biography of Primarch Nimrod.

• A councilor of Hernandez House blamed the abuse of the arcane for humanity’s Long Night and called for illegal Psykers to be prohibited.
• Barton Drake defended Psykers’ military usefulness, while Haldan Ma Long argued that they threatened the Imperium’s command echelon.
• Lauren Visscher and Mo Zhi-Ming supported keeping Psykers in the Imperium, citing their value and the need for Mandrake.
• Malcador announced that he would relay the councilors’ views to the Master of Mankind and urged them to attend Petronella Capinus’s biography launch.
• Petronella described her family’s tradition of chronicling the Imperium and invited the councilors to inspect her biography of Nimrod.
• The councilors left the Overlord Tower for the Imperial Chief Academy, where Petronella and her father welcomed the guests.

Petronella Viva launched Shadow Monarch, her biography of Nimrod, before a gathering of Imperial nobles and representatives. After reading about Nimrod’s possible political strategy, the Emperor decided to summon the Primarchs to Nikaea and announce his ruling on psychic power.

• Gianluigi Belisarius arrived uninvited at the Imperial Chief Academy’s book launch and asked Petronella Viva for two copies of Nimrod’s biography.
• Petronella presented Shadow Monarch, describing Nimrod’s campaigns, his duel with Magnus in the Warp, and his foreword and signature in the book.
• The nobles collected their copies, and the Palatine Dome went quiet as they read the biography through the night.
• Malcador and the Emperor discussed whether Nimrod had allowed Petronella to write the biography to influence the Council of Terra.
• The Emperor ordered Malcador to summon the Primarchs to Nikaea, where he would announce his decision about psychic power.

Gianluigi Belisarius brought Nimrod’s biography to Leman Russ, who read about Nimrod’s ambitions and influence. Russ then ordered Kova to watch Hawser for signs of Amon’s scheme at Nikaea, as Othere Wodmek warned that the Allfather would judge Nimrod for abusing witchcraft.

• Gianluigi Belisarius endured a Warp phantasm at the Wolf Hall gates and delivered Nimrod’s biography to Russ.
• Russ read that Nimrod had sought to liberate and develop the Coronid Abyss and suspected he wanted power uniting military and civil rule rather than the Warmaster’s title.
• Russ asked Kova what Amon was attempting through Hawser, and Kova said Amon sought the Space Wolves’ knowledge.
• Russ ordered Kova to watch Hawser because Amon might act at Nikaea.
• Othere Wodmek warned that the Allfather would judge Nimrod for abusing witchcraft at Nikaea.

Nimrod and the other primarchs arrived on Nikaea for the Emperor’s judgment of the Librarius. As Malcador opened the Council, he framed the question as the use of sorcery and the Librarian program.

• Nimrod flew to Nikaea with Thomas, Pat, and Jurjur, then met Russ and Othere Wodmek at the landing site.
• Nimrod entered the volcano with Russ and saw Magnus, Sanguinius, Fulgrim, and the delegations of their Legions arrive for the Council.
• Nimrod surveyed the Council of Terra and recognized that Lauren Visscher and Barton Drake supported him, while other delegates would not take his side.
• Akurduana, Hathor Maat, Thomas, Pat, and Jurjur knelt before the Emperor, each inwardly reacting to the gathering and its golden light.
• Sanguinius presented Magnus to the Emperor, and Malcador began the Council by announcing that they would discuss sorcery and the Librarian program.

At the Council of Terra, Othere Wodmek and Mortarion accused the Thousand Sons of sorcery and urged opposition to Librarian divisions, while Nimrod recognized Mortarion as a pawn of the Old Man in Yellow. Magnus answered with a passionate defense of psychic knowledge, winning the council’s applause as Nimrod approached the dais.

• Malcador opened the debate over sorcery, and Othere Wodmek accused Sanchez and his kind of using unclean magic.
• Mortarion backed Wodmek, described the Death Guard’s battle against sorcerers on Kayor, and called for rejecting Librarian divisions.
• Nimrod noticed the ring on Mortarion’s hand and recognized that the Old Man in Yellow had sent him to attack the Librarians.
• After hours of accusations against several Legions, Magnus defended the pursuit of knowledge with a story about a man who led others out of a cave into the sunlight.
• The councilors applauded Magnus, and Nimrod joined them before striding toward the dais.

Nimrod defended the Librarians before the Council of Terra, arguing that psychic powers could be trained and controlled rather than condemned outright. Fourteen Chief Librarians and members of the Council, including two jurors, then openly joined his side as the Emperor prepared to deliver judgment.

• Perturabo remembered Nimrod's past kindnesses but stayed in his place after recalling his oath of loyalty to the Emperor.
• Nimrod compared the persecution of Librarians to the execution of scholars who challenged outdated beliefs and argued that Psykers could be trained like warriors.
• Togutai Yesugei and thirteen other Chief Librarians stepped forward to support Nimrod.
• Petronella Viva and dozens of Council members joined Nimrod, while Barton Drake and Lauren Visscher descended from the dais to stand beside him.
• The Emperor approached the edge of the dais and announced that he would give his judgment.

At the Council of Nikaea, the Emperor banned psychic powers and dissolved the Legions’ Librarius divisions, prompting Magnus to collapse and return to Prospero. Afterward, Nimrod reassured the dismissed Chief Librarians, then learned that the Emperor had appointed Horus Warmaster and prepared a unique warship, the Miraculous, for him.

• The Emperor warned that psychic power led to corruption and ordered all Legions to abolish their Librarius divisions and forbid Librarians from using psychic powers.
• Magnus collapsed, refused help, and told Hathor Maat and his companions to return to Prospero.
• After the council ended, Nimrod thanked his supporters and encouraged the dismissed Chief Librarians, while Yumojin discussed the Salamanders’ continued cooperation with him.
• The Emperor told Nimrod that Horus had been appointed Warmaster and presented him with the unique warship Miraculous.
• Nimrod left the Emperor’s box and saw someone emerge from the opposite box.

Nimrod recognized Malcador’s effort to use Lorgar and the Chaplains to suppress the Librarius, while Lorgar secretly planned to spread the Primordial Truth. After accepting Horus’s summons to Murder, Nimrod prepared his Legion for upheaval and ordered Hathor to draw Thousand Sons to Alexandria IV.

• Nimrod identified Malcador in the amphitheater and recognized Lorgar’s Aries ring, while reflecting on the sixteen elites he had corrupted during the Second Rangdan War.
• Lorgar told Nimrod that Horus had ordered him to go to Planet 140-20, where three Blood Angels companies had sent a final warning from Murder.
• Nimrod agreed to lead a force to Murder, then returned to Shadow of the Throne and told Thomas to restrain psychic powers only when joint operations were safe.
• Nimrod ordered the First, Ninth, and 10th Battalion to assemble for the journey to the 140-20 world.
• Nimrod summoned Hathor and learned that Magnus had recalled the Thousand Sons to Prospero and returned alone to the lost labyrinth.
• Nimrod ordered Hathor to use his authority as Chief Librarian to send as many Thousand Sons as possible to Alexandria IV.

Nimrod joined Horus, Sanguinius, and the other commanders to plan a renewed assault on Murder, where Giant Spider Beasts had defeated the Blood Angels and shielded the planet with storms. He claimed the northern hemisphere for his forces and agreed to watch the warriors’ duels.

• Horus welcomed Nimrod aboard the Vengeful Spirit, but Nimrod kept his distance because of their past conflict.
• Eidolon and the other commanders explained how Murder’s Shield Storm disrupted communications, scans, and atmospheric landings.
• Nimrod proposed simultaneous Drop Pod assaults across the planet, and Horus agreed to use Astropaths to help counter the storms’ interference.
• Nimrod chose the northern hemisphere for his three Chapters, leaving the other Legions to attack the rest of Murder.
• Horus invited Nimrod to watch Erebus face the Emperor’s Children warriors, and Nimrod accepted.

Lucius defeated Erebus and Loken in consecutive training-cage bouts, showing that his abilities extended beyond swordsmanship. Loken woke afterward, reconsidered his assumptions about Lucius, and left to prove the Luna Wolves on the battlefield.

• Lucius disarmed Erebus and nearly cut his throat before Asimand stopped the duel, giving Lucius a decisive victory.
• Horus praised Lucius, and Loken entered the cage to fight him after Erebus’s defeat.
• Loken deliberately dropped his sword and attacked with a punch, but Lucius blocked him and knocked him unconscious.
• Nimrod applauded Lucius, recognizing that his teaching had helped Lucius move beyond fixation on swordsmanship and resist Slaanesh’s corruption.
• Loken woke on an operating table, admitted that he had misjudged Lucius, and headed for the flight deck to prove the Luna Wolves in battle.

Nimrod ordered the Librarians to disregard Nikaea’s ban and join the battle, then directed Dementyeva to rendezvous with Maria at Potsdam. As the 10th Battalion landed and fought the Giant Spider Beasts, Ramsey coordinated the companies and sent reinforcements to the besieged 14th Company.

• Nimrod told Chief Librarian Thomas to send all Librarians into battle and keep communications open.
• Nimrod contacted Dementyeva in the Kingdom of Disorder and ordered her to travel to Potsdam to meet Maria.
• The 10th Battalion’s Dreadclaws landed amid a storm, and Thomas linked the forces through hidden and telepathic communication networks.
• Ramsey’s troops killed waves of Giant Spider Beasts, while Ramsey and the Rose Bishop used their powers to destroy the creatures attacking the Honor Guard.
• Ramsey learned the 14th Company was under siege and ordered the Third Company and 6th Company to support it.

Saul Tarvitz's Tenth Company lost its Astropath and became cut off while fighting Giant Spider Beasts across the grassland. Meanwhile, the Shadow of Order's 14th Company received supplies and reinforcements from Lord Ramsey, who ordered them to collect the surviving beasts after clearing the polar region.

• Tarvitz killed several Giant Spider Beasts, but one killed the Astropath, leaving the Tenth Company unable to communicate with Eidolon, Lucius, or their other allies.
• Over ninety-six hours, the Tenth Company fought thirty-one raids, lost eight warriors, exhausted its ammunition, and continued onward without strategic information.
• Diaz complained that the company was lost without its Librarian, and Tarvitz encouraged him to treat the fights as swordsmanship practice.
• The Shadow of Order's 14th Company ran low on ammunition as Giant Spider Beasts surrounded them, but a Dreadclaw arrived with weapons and supplies.
• The 14th Company repelled a breach while the Rose Bishops fought the beasts, and Lord Ramsey arrived to stop the attackers with his psychic power.
• The Librarian reported that allied companies were approaching, and Ramsey declared the polar region cleared and ordered the 14th Company to collect intact Giant Spider Beasts.

Szczesny and the Wind-Blessed fought off the Flying Strain Giant Spider Beasts and found the White Thorn Trees, where Fromm’s Blood Angels jump pack assault squad had been captured and eaten. Nicholas began contacting Magnus to report the discovery.

• Szczesny led his Honor Guard across a vast red-sand clearing and warned the Wind-Blessed as a lightning storm struck.
• More than a thousand Flying Strain Giant Spider Beasts attacked, and the World Eaters used anesthetic needles to bring many down.
• The crowned leader seized a World Eater, but Szczesny killed it with a bolt of lightning as the remaining beasts fled toward the Thorn Tree nest.
• Szczesny found Blood Angels from Fromm’s jump pack assault squad impaled on the roots of four White Thorn Trees, with young Giant Spider Beasts feeding on them.
• Szczesny’s song stunned the pursuing Giant Spider Beasts, and Nicholas began amplifying a mental projection to contact Magnus.

Nimrod confirmed that Murder’s Thorn Trees were Spirit Witch potion ingredients and ordered the Legions to destroy those in open areas. After Loken’s company blew up two trees and discovered that their destruction cleared the Shield Storm and restored communications, Horus prepared a full-scale assault.

• Nimrod uprooted four Spirit Thorn Trees and ordered forces to advance on Thorn Trees in open areas before other Legions destroyed them.
• Loken’s company fought Giant Spider Beasts as the Shield Storm battered them, and Zacharias was killed on a Thorn Tree.
• Loken ordered Vipus’s squad to plant bombs on two Spirit Thorn Trees, which exploded and killed the creatures feeding on them.
• The explosions cleared the Shield Storm, and Loken reported that destroying the Thorn Trees could help secure victory.
• Horus praised Loken’s discovery and prepared to launch a full-scale attack.

Yaxin led the Shadow of Order across Murder, rescuing Loken’s Luna Wolves and rapidly destroying alien Thorn Trees in the southern hemisphere. After learning of a strategically important sector guarded by a new spider-beast species, Horus ordered his forces to find the nearest Teleport point for a decapitation strike.

• Yaxin led the Shadow of Order through lightning and Flying Strain attacks, then diverted to assist an allied force requesting help.
• The Shadow of Order rescued Loken from a Weaver Strain and drove off the Giant Spider Beasts attacking the Luna Wolves.
• Loken discovered that the Shadow of Order had advanced more than six hundred kilometers into the southern hemisphere in just over eleven hours.
• Horus learned that black Giant Spider Beasts had repelled repeated attacks near Sector 6-9-3 and ordered his forces to locate its nearest Teleport point.

Nimrod and Freddy subdued the creatures in the canyon, calmed the Spirit Thorn Trees’ Shield Storm, and removed the trees and Astartes armor. Horus arrived after the battle and accused Nimrod of using Psionic Energy, while Nimrod privately credited Freddy with handling everything.

• Nimrod summoned Freddy, whose Mythical Creature Form calmed the Shield Storm as he chanted the Song of Serenity.
• Nimrod used Telekinesis and the Mysterious Kingdom’s black mist to collect the Giant Spider Beasts, then freed the armor and uprooted the six Spirit Thorn Trees.
• Horus and Sedire entered the canyon, found the sky empty, and Horus concluded that Nimrod had violated the Emperor’s prohibition.
• Horus found Nimrod and Freddy on the slope and told Nimrod to stop using Psionic Energy.
• Nimrod suspected Horus thought he had handled the battle himself, though Freddy had done the work.

Sasebo Tezuka reported nine suspected infiltrators to Pat, who identified the threat as Omega or Alpharius and investigated through Shadow of Order’s collective unconscious. Pat discovered evidence linking the infiltrators to the 670th Expeditionary Fleet’s destruction and saw Alpharius order Antoine to infiltrate Shadow of Order, then chose to report his findings to his lord.

• Sasebo Tezuka demonstrated his mastery of the Euclidean Sigil to Ramsey and Pat, then handed Pat a list of nine suspected infiltrators.
• Pat learned that the suspected agents could be Omega or Alpharius and that they had infiltrated three Legions and caused the destruction of the 670th Expeditionary Fleet, the Gino Thousand Regiment, and six Titans.
• Pat calmed himself, entered a dream, killed dream images of Omega and the False Emperor, and traveled into Shadow of Order’s collective unconscious.
• Pat used Dream Guidance to witness Beta’s involvement in attacks on the 670th Expeditionary Fleet and Alpharius killing Namatejira, its commander-in-chief.
• Pat saw Alpharius order Antoine to infiltrate Shadow of Order, but stopped before using Dream Modification and decided to report the evidence to his lord.

Nimrod ordered a Legion-wide hunt for infiltrating Alphas and learned the casualty totals from the war on Murder before accepting Horus’s invitation to the Vengeful Spirit. In the Kingdom of Disorder, he oversaw Maria’s advancement to Witch of Pain, and Dementyeva prepared to undergo the same ritual.

• Nimrod ordered Pat and the Court Earls to use Dream Modification on the infiltrating Alphas so they would act as double agents without alerting Alpharius and Omega.
• Arsena Dunn reported 1,493 Legion deaths on Murder, while the Warmaster’s forces had lost 3,625 men; Terra’s delegation arrived and Horus invited Nimrod to the Vengeful Spirit.
• Nimrod selected a potion made from a pitch-black Flying Strain and sent it through an illusory doorway to Maria in Potsdam.
• Dementyeva bound Maria to a stake, gave her the potion, and burned her for fifteen minutes until pain brought her back from the potion’s visions of joy.
• Maria survived the ritual and gained new power, after which a potion arrived for Dementyeva and she approached the stake.

Loken wondered how Nimrod’s forces had advanced so quickly on Murder as Horus and Sanguinius discussed restricting Librarians and preparing to meet Terra’s delegation. Nimrod rejected the Council of Terra’s taxation plan, and Horus agreed to delay its implementation until he could speak with the Emperor.

• Loken reviewed the Shadow of Order’s advance on Murder and suspected that its communications and efforts to collect Thorn Trees had aided Nimrod’s campaign.
• Horus told Nimrod to reduce the Librarians’ role in combat, and Nimrod agreed that he needed more time to transition.
• Horus suggested Nimrod act as the hard-line figure when facing Terra’s delegation, and Nimrod accepted the role.
• Aenid Rathbone presented the Council of Terra’s demand that the Imperium’s worlds be taxed, while exempting Nimrod’s Vostonia and Colonid Sectors.
• Nimrod opposed the tax plan, warning that it could undermine governors and provoke rebellions; Horus also argued that taxation was premature.
• After Rathbone left, Horus and Nimrod agreed to slow the tax officials with extensive paperwork until Horus could return to Terra and speak with the Emperor.