Chapter Summaries

Nimrod named his new Relic-class flagship the Void Hunter, organized the Eleventh Legion’s Astartes transformations, and arranged Vostonia’s shipyard and garrison. After preparing to depart, he received an eager invitation from Horus to meet aboard his ship.

• Wojciech Berek asked to become an Astartes, and Nimrod approved his request and assigned him to study as a Tech Sergeant after overseeing the shipyard’s construction.
• Nimrod ordered the regimental commanders and Wojciech to undergo transformation first, then scheduled the first squads of each regiment in turn.
• Nimrod underwent gene extraction without anesthetic and ordered the Apothecaries to halt any procedure if they found something abnormal.
• Nimrod approved Wojciech’s design for a shipyard on Gray Moon and told Rosicky to build it, prompting Rosicky to offer to collect its Moonstones for him.
• Nimrod appointed Thomas to remain in Vostonia and recruit children with potential, then spent five days planning the recruitment effort with him.
• After hearing that the officers had changed their paint schemes, Nimrod prepared to depart and received Horus’s invitation to meet aboard his ship.

Nimrod arrived aboard the Vengeful Spirit, met Horus and the Luna Wolves’ senior officers, and learned of a campaign against Ogryns in the Ape-Man System. As the fleet reached the system, Nimrod prepared to return to his Legion and choose a company to lead in the coming conquest.

• Nimrod and Saisak met Ezekyle Abaddon, whose taunts nearly provoked Saisak into a fight before Nimrod redirected the rivalry toward their next battle.
• Horus warmly greeted Nimrod and introduced the Council of Four Kings, including Abaddon and Tarik Torgaddon.
• Horus showed Nimrod the four high-gravity worlds of the Ape-Man System, where Ogryns lived, and said the Tenth Company had already conquered one planet.
• The expeditionary fleet reached the Ape-Man System after a sixteen-day Warp voyage, and Horus proposed that he and Nimrod jointly attack a grassland world.
• Nimrod returned toward The Serrated to address his Legion and decided to begin reorganizing it by personally leading one of its companies.

Nimrod chose Adams and the Fourth Company to fight beside him as they attacked an Ogryn settlement. After Nimrod breached its stone wall with a golden-lit punch, the company charged into battle.

• Nimrod ordered the Legion’s warriors to stay calm and strike at enemy weaknesses, then selected Adams’s Fourth Company to accompany him.
• Adams accepted the honor, while Saisak reacted with fury at being passed over.
• Nimrod landed on the Ogryn world, and Adams arrived with 974 warriors and five Malcador Heavy Tanks.
• Nimrod reminded the Fourth Company to keep calm and follow his guidance, while Adams organized the attack formation.
• Nimrod smashed a breach into the settlement’s stone wall, and Adams led the company inside as the tanks opened fire.

Nimrod discovered that the Shadows of Order’s keen perception caused their bloodlust to intensify through the squad during battle, but his command helped the Fourth Company regain discipline and defeat the Ogryns. After praising his gene-sons, he found the camp’s food supply.

• Nimrod killed charging Ogryns with his bolt pistol and power sword while demonstrating efficient techniques to his sons.
• Nimrod noticed the Fourth Company’s eyes reddening and realized that the warriors’ heightened perception made their killing urges resonate and grow stronger.
• As the Shadows of Order broke formation and gave in to bloodlust, Nimrod used his Roar of Fury and ordered them to control themselves.
• A Ravager regained clarity, exploited an Ogryn’s exposed weakness, and his sergeant rallied the squad into formation.
• Scorpion Tail Squad developed coordinated tactics that other squads copied, allowing Adams to restore order and lead the Fourth Company to victory.
• Nimrod praised the Shadows of Order and found the source of food in the camp.

Nimrod collected Corpse-Gnawing Beetles from the Ogryns and used them to prepare a Corpse Collector potion for Adams, making him the first Beyonder among his gene-sons. Adams accepted the new power and left to collect corpses as commanded, while a killing-speed contest began between the Eleventh Legion and the XVI Legion's First Company Captain.

• Nimrod found Ogryns feeding Corpse-Gnawing Beetles on corpses and eating the insects, then took one as a potion ingredient.
• Adams reported that his company had defeated the Ogryns, and Nimrod praised him for keeping his urge to kill under control.
• Nimrod examined the Blasphemy Slate, considered the difficult materials needed for the Baron of Corruption potion, and prepared a Corpse Collector potion.
• Adams brought Nimrod 432 Corpse-Gnawing Beetles, drank the potion, and became a Beyonder under Nimrod's guidance.
• Nimrod ordered Adams to collect corpses and preserve their arms, and Adams left to carry out the command.
• A killing-speed contest began between the Eleventh Legion and the XVI Legion's First Company Captain.

Saisak led the First Company into a brutal contest against Abaddon’s Luna Wolves, insisting that slaughter would prove the company deserved to join the next campaign. Abaddon finished first with eighty-six kills and no losses, while Saisak reported eighty-four; Nimrod led the Fourth Company to the rendezvous point.

• Saisak asked Abaddon how many warriors were in his company and sent his adjutant to attack another Ogryn settlement.
• Saisak urged the First Company to win glory through slaughter, while Dickson argued that Nimrod had called for reason; most of the warriors chose Saisak’s approach.
• Saisak charged into the Ogryn camp, and the First Company’s frenzied attack swept up more warriors, despite Dickson’s efforts to keep his squads in formation.
• Abaddon directed Katurian’s Reaver Squad to attack the Ogryns from behind, and the Luna Wolves defeated them without losing a warrior.
• Abaddon reported eighty-six kills, and Saisak admitted defeat with eighty-four; Nimrod led the Fourth Company to the rendezvous point.

Nimrod and Horus attacked an Ogryn city whose inhabitants had been mutated by Corpse-Gnawing Beetles. Nimrod’s Fourth Company learned to target the controlling beetles and keep their battle rage in check, but a much larger mutant charged toward him as Horus moved to intervene.

• Torgaddon showed Nimrod and Horus scout footage of Ogryn covered in or eating Corpse-Gnawing Beetles, and Nimrod judged the tribe corrupted by living alongside the insects.
• Horus ordered the Luna Wolves to watch for signs of mutation and proposed a simultaneous attack from the east and west, which Nimrod accepted.
• Nimrod led the Fourth Company east and selected Ice Blade Squad to serve as the first members of his Honor Guard, intended to spread his ideals through the Legion.
• Nimrod broke through the city wall, and the Fourth Company attacked the advancing Ogryn with a Malcador Heavy Tank and bolter fire.
• Adams identified the beetle on each mutant’s head as its weakness, and the Fourth Company and Nimrod killed the Ogryn by striking their heads while squads restrained warriors overcome by bloodlust.
• A giant mutated Ogryn charged toward Nimrod, and Horus advanced with his flaming Power Sword to help his brother.

Nimrod used his new Power Fist to kill a massive mutated Ogryn and saw his Legion fighting with greater discipline, then completed the conquest of the Corpse-Gnawing Plains. He trained five more Astartes as Beyonders and gathered them with Adams to establish a secret organization.

• Nimrod activated the silver Power Fist and destroyed a mutated Ogryn with one punch, while Horus watched in amazement.
• Horus noticed the Ice Blade Squad maintained tactical formation and praised Nimrod for changing his gene-sons; Nimrod later let Adams command the 4th Company while he observed the squad.
• Nimrod saw Sanchez's 7th Company adopting his ideals, gained potion ingredients from Saisak and Samir, and named the conquered world the Corpse-Gnawing Plains.
• After the Ogryn tribes submitted, Nimrod chose Oliver, Sanchez, and three other Astartes to become the next Beyonders and summoned them to the Void Hunter.
• Nimrod gave Sanchez a red potion and the other four green potions, taught all five to control their abilities, then summoned Adams and announced that they would form the first members of a secret organization.

Nimrod established the Court of the Black Duke and recruited Malena Scala as a Physician to help with Astartes transformation surgeries. At the medical deck, they found that Rawlslev had died during his procedure, and Nimrod remained with Malena to recover the Beyonder characteristic he left behind.

• Nimrod named his secret organization the Court of the Black Duke, ranked its members from knight to duke, and forbade them from revealing their granted abilities to outsiders.
• Nimrod gave Malena Scala the Physician potion and arranged for her to join the Apothecaries so she could help save aging soldiers undergoing Astartes transformation.
• Nimrod and Malena arrived at the medical deck as Mikel announced that Rawlslev had died despite resuscitation attempts.
• Malena examined Rawlslev and confirmed that his organs were failing beyond recovery.
• Nimrod dismissed Mikel and the attendants, then stayed with Malena to recover the Beyonder characteristic Rawlslev left behind.

Nimrod explained to Malena that Beyonder Characteristics separated from the dead and told her to recover them, then brought her to help with a failing surgery. Malena saved Joseph from a fatal rejection reaction, and Mikel left to check the other modification chambers.

• Nimrod watched Rawlslev's Brawler Beyonder Characteristic emerge from his corpse and stored it in a steel box.
• Nimrod told Malena to retrieve the powers of dead subordinates, warned her not to consume powers from other domains, and said her performance would affect his evaluation of her.
• Nimrod and Mikel went to modification chamber thirty, where Joseph was suffering a severe rejection reaction during implantation of the Biscopea Organ.
• Nimrod ordered Malena to try; she used her Physician abilities to remove the rejected organ, treat Joseph, and close his chest.
• Joseph survived, and Nimrod thanked Malena and sent her to rest while Mikel checked the modification progress in the other chambers.

Nimrod recruited Malena Scala to help save failed augmentation candidates, reviewed the Legion’s progress, and summoned Arsena Dunn to study in his private library. Meanwhile, Horus struggled to reproduce Nimrod’s strange striking power before challenging him to race for the conquest of two planets; Nimrod chose the mountainous world.

• Mikel reported augmentation failures and progress to Nimrod, who arranged for Malena Scala to assist with the procedures.
• Nimrod praised Mikel’s work and urged him to train more Apothecaries, then questioned Arsena Dunn about his studies and granted him access to his private library.
• Horus repeatedly tried and failed to reproduce the strange power behind Nimrod’s strike.
• Horus challenged Nimrod to see who could conquer one of two planets first, offering him a choice between an ocean world and a mountainous world.
• Nimrod chose the mountainous world because he wanted to find different potion ingredients.

Nimrod led the Eleventh Legion to attack the Ogryn settlement on planet 33-5 and tested whether Saisak and the First Company had overcome their urge to slaughter. As the battle began, Saisak fought effectively but was struck downhill by the biggest-headed Ogryn, and his suppressed killing intent erupted.

• Nimrod ordered preparations to conquer 33-5, chose warriors from the 4th and 7th Companies for his Honor Guard, and had Sanchez brief the commanders on the planet and the Ogryn settlement.
• Nimrod assigned Saisak and the First Company to attack the settlement with him, urged them to act as the Shadow of Order rather than Reapers, and sent Sanchez's company to investigate an anomalous region.
• Nimrod landed with the Honor Guard and Arsena Dunn, while Saisak resolved to prove the First Company's worth and led its warriors toward the Ogryn settlement.
• The Ogryns spotted the approaching force, decided the newcomers could be eaten, and charged downhill as Saisak ordered his company to charge.
• Saisak dodged an Ogryn's club and cut through the attackers, but the biggest-headed Ogryn ambushed him and knocked him downhill, unleashing his killing intent.

Nimrod stopped Saisak and the First Company from fighting in a reckless frenzy, then showed them how the other companies coordinated their attacks against the Ogryns. Saisak tried to regain his gene-father’s approval as he fought, while Nimrod turned his attention to an unusually well-equipped Ogryn.

• Saisak and the First Company lost control and fought the Ogryns in a chaotic melee while Adjutant Dickson tried to maintain order.
• Nimrod stunned the battlefield, hurled Saisak into the Ogryns, and ordered the First Company to control its bloodlust.
• The 7th Company opened fire and the 4th Company followed with coordinated Chainsword attacks, prompting the First Company to imitate their tactics.
• Arsena Dunn used telekinesis to disarm a group of Ogryns and knock them unconscious.
• Saisak charged back into the fight while trying not to disappoint Nimrod, then rushed at a towering Ogryn in black armor.
• Nimrod reached his consciousness toward the unusually equipped Ogryn, hoping to learn useful information.

Nimrod discovered that Mount Dahei’s black metal had unusual properties and considered using it to create a mystical link that could direct ritual magic toward him. He changed his plans to conquer the mountain, while Sanchez and 7th Company encountered Ogryns inside its signal-isolated zone.

• Nimrod entered the Ogryn chieftain’s mind and learned the tribes’ traditions and the dangers of Mount Dahei.
• Saisak killed the chieftain, and Nimrod examined his black-metal club and armor while Arsena identified their unusual crystalline structure.
• Nimrod connected the metal’s growth lines and composition to mystical symbols and considered using it in rituals to reach believers and protect them from corruption.
• Nimrod decided to conquer Mount Dahei and asked the Legion’s company commanders to report their Psykers, but the captain of 7th Company could not respond from the isolated zone.
• Sanchez encountered an Ogryn unit inside Mount Dahei, and its warrior summoned black lightning against 7th Company.

Sanchez tracked an Ogryn Psyker to a hidden cave while Nimrod equipped Arsena Dunn and the Legion with Space Ape devices. The Scouts entered the cave and were suddenly hurled against its ceiling by a powerful force.

• Sanchez killed the Ogryn Psyker and identified its unusual ears and feet as possible signs of the mountain range’s influence.
• Sanchez used his enhanced senses to follow the Ogryn’s faint tracks and scent toward a concealed cave.
• Nimrod showed Arsena Dunn his private armory, gave him access to Space Ape weapons and Protective Orbs, and ordered Spy Flies prepared for the Legion.
• Sanchez led the Scout squad into the cave, where a sudden force threw four Scouts against the cavern wall above them.

Nimrod led the companies through the mountains toward the source of the Ogryn Psykers’ powers, discovering a vast pit and a resonant black crystal. As psychic flames erupted from below, he plunged into the pit to confront the towering Ogryn drawing power from the crystal.

• Sanchez killed an Ogryn Psyker by exploiting the thin armor at its neck, while Arsena and the Tech Sergeants disabled the enemy projections and Nimrod deployed Spy Flies to map the region.
• Nimrod analyzed the Spy Flies’ images, identified the central area as the source of the abnormal signals, and led the companies toward it as they fought increasingly powerful Ogryn Psykers.
• On the fifth stellar day, Nimrod’s company reached a deep pit where Ogryns moved along its descending stone passage, and Nimrod led his troops down toward the center.
• Arsena explained that magnetic resonance could account for the interference and tremors, while Nimrod revealed that a transformed black crystal was granting the Ogryns psychic power.
• Nimrod ordered psychic shields as a towering Ogryn launched upward amid psychic flames, then dived into the pit to kill it while Briber shouted that he would give it a bolt round.

Nimrod conquered the Ogryn world 33-5, appointed Dickson to oversee its black-gold mines, and made Arsena Dunn his report-reading attendant. Horus then told Nimrod that The Emperor had entrusted him with the 22nd Expedition Fleet of the Second Legion and the 28th Expedition Fleet of the Fifteenth Legion, and Nimrod ordered both fleets to rendezvous in the Vostonia System.

• Nimrod defeated the Ogryn Psyker, took control of Mount Dahei, renamed it Mount Double-Number, and reported the conquest of 33-5 to Horus.
• Nimrod appointed Lieutenant Dickson as an Arbites and sent him to control the Ogryns and establish a Double-Number Black Gold mining base.
• Nimrod granted Arsena Dunn a power suited to reading, made him his attendant, and tasked him with sorting reports and studying other races' languages.
• After Horus completed the ocean world's conquest, he and Nimrod discussed their campaigns and Horus told Nimrod he could choose his own future conquests.
• Horus informed Nimrod that The Emperor had entrusted him with the Second Legion's 22nd Expedition Fleet and the Fifteenth Legion's 28th Expedition Fleet.
• Nimrod ordered the two expedition fleets to rendezvous in the Vostonia System and set the Void Hunter's fleet on course.

Vostonia and the Cradle of the Sea began selecting recruits for the Path of Ascension, with children facing endurance trials and candidates undergoing Space Marine modification. The chapter left Per still running his first test and Mikol preparing nineteen candidates for Preomnor implantation.

• Vostonian workers discussed the new rule that families with eleven children could send one child to the Path of Ascension selection, and Old Koschelny described how his family chose Per.
• Thomas oversaw the selection in Paragon City, where sergeants began a four-month program with three hundred children.
• Per spotted a concealed pit during the endurance trial, then completed his first lap and realized the instructors were testing the candidates’ limits.
• Children began running across the beach during the selection at the Cradle of the Sea.
• Mikol addressed twenty-two candidates aboard the Void Hunter and began teaching them about the stomach before nineteen underwent Preomnor implantation.

Nimrod ordered Arsena to identify Rogue Traders who could explore unknown regions, then met with Malena to discuss progress on the medical modifications. Malena reported that a new ocean-simulating treatment had helped Szczesny complete several surgeries successfully.

• Arsena advised Nimrod to use his authority under the Imperial Code to appoint Rogue Traders to explore unknown regions, and Nimrod ordered him to find candidates among conscripted merchants and Vostonian locals.
• Malena finished a surgery, received thanks from two Auxilia warriors she had saved, and went to Nimrod's office for a meal with him and Arsena.
• Nimrod asked Malena about the modification surgeries, and she explained that age and differences between populations affected their success rates.
• Malena reported that she and Mikel had adapted the implanted organs by conditioning them in a simulated ocean environment, enabling Szczesny to complete his fifth through eleventh surgeries.

Szczesny endured the meninx implantation and overcame a severe rejection reaction after hearing Nimrod’s voice, while Malena completed her transformation into a full Physician. In Vostonia, Per Mertsak passed the final trial, and Nimrod returned home and began addressing the Legion monastery design.

• Szczesny destroyed a training Servitor with one Fury Strike after reaching Sequence 8, People of Fury.
• Szczesny suffered a violent rejection reaction during his twelfth modification, the meninx implantation, but Nimrod’s voice helped him regain clarity and recover.
• Szczesny thanked Malena for her work, and Malena realized she had fully mastered the power Nimrod had bestowed on her and become a complete Physician.
• Per Mertsak emerged first from the Lower Hive labyrinth after enduring the trials, and Thomas praised his performance.
• Nimrod returned to his homeworld in the tenth month after leaving Vostonia and chose to meet Adeptus Mechanicus representatives about the Legion monastery design.