Chapter Summaries

Udish and Calibax attacked Paladonna during the Ni-Delina Subsector’s resource-allocation negotiations, seeking to seize the worlds’ resources and avenge their treatment by the Imperium. Their Titans began purging the planet as a massive Titan Legion emerged from the Warp.

• Jian-18 and Yuri declared that Udish and Calibax would take Ni-Delina, citing their unequal resource shares and Varia Superior’s gains under Nimrod’s support.
• The fleets of Udish and Calibax overwhelmed Paladonna’s defenses and landed their Skitarii forces.
• Yuri ordered the attack, and Titans descended through the conduits onto Paladonna.
• A Gatekeeper Titan fired into a mine shaft, while a Tamer Titan destroyed an iridium refinery, killing workers.
• As the Guardian and Tamer Titan Legions purged Paladonna, a massive Titan Legion translated into realspace from the Warp.

Calibax and Udish faced a joint blockade by Graia and Varia Superior, but Nimrod offered them increased resource shares in exchange for signing an agreement and obeying him. A month later, the Forge Worlds signed the Steel Agreement, and Wilshire prayed to the Black Emperor before vanishing into black mist.

• Yuri ordered Calibax's forces to resist a Ramillies-class Star Fortress, then learned that Graia and Varia Superior had joined forces to seal off the system.
• Olivier told Yuri and Jian-18 that Nimrod offered to raise their resource allocation to fifteen percent if they signed a contract and obeyed his will.
• A month later on Exlos II, Yuri signed the fourth supplementary agreement, which redistributed the Ni-Delina Subsector's resources among the Forge Worlds for two thousand years.
• Unai-9 and the other representatives approved the agreement as Varia Superior was promised a subsector in Nimrod's planned new region.
• Wilshire declared that the Steel Agreement would usher in a new era of cooperation, then returned to his residence and prayed to the Black Emperor before black mist swallowed him.

Nimrod secured the Forge Worlds’ contracts, reviewed the Iron Ring campaign’s losses, and empowered two Thousand Sons while assigning them to gather knowledge and unusual objects. He then summoned Koriel Zeth and Cant Polk into his office.

• Nimrod received Wilshire’s report that Graia had signed away its Ni-Delina Subsector resource allocations in exchange for permission to establish a Forge World in the Ghoul Stars, and learned that the Graia Crown had departed for the Eastern Galaxy.
• Wilshire reported the Second Legion’s casualties and Walker losses in the Iron Ring, and Nimrod ordered the Legion to rest and reorganize.
• Nimrod summoned Hathor Maat, Menes Kalliston, and Menkare, then gave potions to Menes and Menkare and instructed Hathor to prepare for his advancement ritual.
• Nimrod ordered the three Thousand Sons to collect knowledge, mysteries, and unusual objects as his Blood Ravens.
• Koriel Zeth and Cant Polk arrived, and Nimrod invited them into his office.

Koriel Zeth received assignments from Nimrod to improve the Simulacrum Sanctum and the Legion’s communications network. Nimrod welcomed loyalist survivors into his War Council and tasked Koriel, Barabas Dantioch, and Iron Hands researchers with studying Pharos so he could gather scattered loyalists.

• Koriel Zeth told Nimrod she had completed her research into the Simulacrum Sanctum, and he asked her to devise improvements for it and the Legion’s communications network.
• Alastor Rorschach, Nykona Sharrowkyn, and Barabas Dantioch arrived and pledged their service to Nimrod.
• Nimrod reunited with Cassian Vaughn and welcomed Ullach Brandon and the other Iron Hands survivors, who vowed to fight the traitors.
• Nimrod assigned Fret Samatica and Sabik Wieland to research alongside Koriel and Barabas, explaining that Pharos could help gather scattered loyalists.
• Nimrod invited the newcomers to join his War Council, leaving Barabas overwhelmed by the trust placed in him.

Nimrod contacted the Ultramarines guarding Sotha and declared that he needed the xenos device at Pharos. He secretly altered Andralus's memories until the captain agreed to let him land, leaving the forbidden world open to Nimrod.

• Koriel Zeth and Cant Polk discussed how Nimrod's fleet had crossed the Warp Storm and speculated that secrets aboard the Shadow of the Throne enabled it.
• Captain Andralus told Nimrod that Guilliman had designated Sotha a forbidden zone and ordered him to leave.
• Nimrod projected his consciousness to Sotha and used the Osiris Mind-Control Staff to enter Opal Dai's and Andralus's minds.
• Nimrod struggled to overcome Andralus's unwavering loyalty to Guilliman, then planted a memory in which Guilliman praised Nimrod as vital to victory.
• Andralus decided that Guilliman would approve Nimrod's arrival and ordered his company to prepare to receive him.

Nimrod and the Sotha delegation reached the Pharos device, where Barabas began studying it while Nimrod chose not to disturb the C’tan shard within. Meanwhile, Perturabo tested a method to move the Blackstone Fortress but halted the attempt when a violet-and-gold fleet arrived, and an incoming message warned him.

• Nimrod arrived at Sotha and led Barabas Dantioch and the others into the Pharos Mountains to inspect the xenos device.
• Koriel Zeth and the Iron Hands examined the smooth black tunnels and the six machines at the mountain’s heart.
• Barabas assessed the Pharos device as using quantum entanglement and began researching it, while Nimrod recognized that Zahurash had become a Transcendent C’tan and decided not to act.
• Perturabo used more than a hundred Tug ships to move the Blackstone Fortress toward the Mandeville Point, but the attempt revealed that it could not yet be guided through the Warp.
• Perturabo ordered the Iron Blood to ask the arriving Emperor’s Children fleet why it had come, then received a message saying, “Lord Perturabo, I bring you a warning.”

Perturabo learned from Akurduana that Fulgrim planned to use him to ascend as a Daemon Prince, but he chose to meet Fulgrim despite the warning. Meanwhile, Nimrod reached Idris and used Magnus's Mindset to withstand the world's psychic dirge as he searched for Amon Ni-Shak Khelis.

• Akurduana warned Perturabo that Fulgrim had deceived him and intended to use him to become a Daemon Prince.
• Perturabo trusted Akurduana but said he would confront Fulgrim and prevent him from getting the chance to kill him.
• Nimrod's shadow avatar escaped Khorne's blood tide through a gateway and arrived on Idris.
• Nimrod recognized Lileath's protection over Idris and used Aetheric Sight to reveal the ruined city and the souls' dirge.
• Nimrod raised Magnus's Mindset to the ninth level and followed Slau Dha's memories toward Amon Ni-Shak Khelis.

Nimrod entered Isha's Doom Mausoleum and confronted the Aeldari dead while collecting Spirit Stones and transporting Underworld Gates to the Kingdom of Disorder. After retrieving the final gate, he faced the mausoleum’s collapse and the spirits’ accusations.

• Nimrod reached Amon Ni-Shak Khaelis and approached Isha's Doom Mausoleum, where the dead warned him not to disturb their rest.
• Nimrod used his shadow avatar to break through the mausoleum’s defenses, defeating its guardians and gathering tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.
• Nimrod discovered that the Spirit Stones contained souls suitable for his purposes and said he would offer them to the Great Enemy.
• Nimrod retrieved 174 Underworld Gates and stored them in the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Nimrod collected the remaining Spirit Stones as the mausoleum began collapsing, while the dead accused him of being the Angel Exterminatus.

Nimrod’s shadow avatar defeated the Aeldari Titan, seized its Spirit Stone, and entered Isha’s Doom Mausoleum. He navigated its cross-dimensional labyrinth using Slau Dha’s memories, but Idris awakened in hatred as he reached a fork.

• Nimrod’s shadow avatar captured the ghosts of Idris’s dead and fought the Aeldari Titan, destroying its body and taking its Spirit Stone.
• Nimrod assessed the avatar’s strength and entered Isha’s Doom Mausoleum past two Psy-Titans.
• Nimrod’s shadow avatar entered the supernatural darkness and used his Mindset to reveal passages through the labyrinth.
• Nimrod compared the labyrinth’s shifting star patterns with Slau Dha’s memories and established spatial and mathematical reference points.
• Nimrod chose the second passage from the left at a fork, and Idris convulsed as it awakened with hatred.

Nimrod explored the core of Isha's Doom Mausoleum, discovered an emerald sun he suspected held a fragment of Lileath's power, and gathered its treasures. When he returned to the shaft, four Constructs attacked his shadow incarnation.

• Nimrod observed the mausoleum and saw a black hole above the central shaft that seemed to shield Idris from Slaanesh.
• Thousands of Aeldari wraiths emerged from the Spires and overwhelmed Nimrod's shadow incarnation with their grief and memories of their civilization's destruction.
• Nimrod descended to the shaft's depths and found an emerald sun surrounded by billions of Spirit Stones, which he suspected contained Lileath's fragment of power.
• Nimrod collected Spirit Stones, Wraithbone, ancient Runes, wandering ghosts, and other valuables from across the world.
• Four Constructs emerged on the bridges and attacked Nimrod's shadow incarnation with spears, lightning, and blades.

Nimrod resisted Slaanesh’s offer on Idris, but Khorne and Slaanesh’s influence spread across worlds as the planet collapsed. After escaping with valuable spoils, Nimrod led the fleet toward the Ghoul Stars, where an isolated joint outpost awaited help.

• Nimrod rejected Slaanesh’s temptations and destroyed the manifestations reaching for him on Idris.
• Khorne’s rage and Slaanesh’s corruption spread across Idris and other worlds as the planet began to die.
• Nimrod escaped through the Warp Gate, gathered the spoils from Idris with Hannibal, and returned to the real world.
• Nimrod ordered the fleet to sail east, leaving researchers and an adjutant’s squads on Pharos.
• The fleet vanished into the Ruinstorm, and the joint outpost at the Corane-Far System welcomed salvation.

Rosicky Cech prepared to leave Korane with the recovered xenos hive and learned that the Death Guard had turned against the Imperium. When Danye Khan's White Scars vessel came under attack, Rosicky intervened, and Grulgor appeared to use the intervention to wound himself with his own plague dagger.

• Rosicky Cech oversaw the evacuation of the xenos hive structure and archived Warp data and psionic relics before preparing to leave Korane.
• The Shadow of Order detected the White Scars strike cruiser Endless Road fleeing a Death Guard fleet, and Danye Khan accused Rosicky's group of treachery.
• Danye Khan asked Rosicky for aid as the Death Guard boarded the Endless Road and Ignatius Grulgor attacked the White Scars.
• Grulgor stabbed Danye with a plague dagger, poisoning him and causing him to collapse.
• A Shadow of Order warrior appeared and made a subtle gesture, after which Grulgor plunged the dagger into his own chest and thanked the warrior.

Ignatius Grulgor transformed into a Nurgle Daemon Prince and attacked Dreamwalker and the allied warriors aboard the ship. After Rosicky Cech destroyed Grulgor, Nykidal and Okafor agreed to meet Father Nimrod, whom they believed could guide them through the chaos.

• Ignatius Grulgor charged Dreamwalker, whose Crozius became trapped in Grulgor’s swollen body as Nurgle’s Rot weakened him.
• Grulgor stabbed Dreamwalker with his Plague Knife, then turned to face Rosicky Cech and his golden spells.
• Nykidal ordered the White Scars to purify the infected, while Miguel Questa redirected plasma beams into Grulgor.
• Grulgor hurled his Plague Knife at Miguel, but it pierced the Stormseers’ defenses and killed a Saturnine Terminator.
• Rosicky engulfed Grulgor in a pillar of blazing light, burning the Daemon Prince to ash.
• Nykidal and Okafor agreed to meet Father Nimrod, and Rosicky placed a piece of the Black Emperor Emblem on his armor.

Jando Skolevok led the Night Lords’ Forty-Fifth Company in a head-on assault on Shadow of Order’s underground base on Husto. After suffering heavy casualties for few confirmed kills, Skolevok ordered the Fierce Claws to attack again and charged into the tunnels with more than nine hundred Night Lords.

• Karen Dewa reported that Shadow of Order’s base lay four hundred meters underground and held many Husto natives, so Skolevok ordered the Night Lords to hunt the Sons of Nimrod.
• Skolevok sent Karen Kil and the Second Fierce Claws into the dark tunnels, where the Night Lords shut down most of their systems and communications.
• Karen Dewa warned Karen Kil of an ambush, and Karen Kil clashed with Shadow of Order’s heavy-hammer wielder before Karen Dewa blocked the next blow and Karen Kil killed the enemy.
• Karen Kil and Karen Dewa found a collapsed passage where a Fierce Claw and many Night Lords lay dead, and Karen Dewa identified a Psionic Energy spell that made the ground slippery.
• Skolevok learned that the Fierce Claws had lost ninety-six men while killing twelve Shadow of Order troops, called the results disgraceful, and charged ahead with more than nine hundred Night Lords.

Jando Skolevok accepted a Daemon’s help to reach Shadow of Order’s hidden passages, where the Night Lords were ambushed and suffered heavy losses. The Daemon saved Skolevok from a plasma shot, leaving his face burned and making him a true Face-Marked Count as he ordered his warriors to kill every enemy.

• Skolevok’s Night Lords fought Shadow of Order until the enemy collapsed the passage, and their search found no trace of the hideout.
• Belenon was possessed by a Daemon, which offered to open a route to Shadow of Order, and Skolevok agreed to its help.
• The Daemon transported the Night Lords into an enemy position, where winged creatures and Shadow of Order attacked them.
• Karen Kil was killed by a blade to the head, and the Spirit Medium adjutant prepared to fire at Skolevok.
• The Daemon struck the Spirit Medium with lightning, saving Skolevok from the plasma shot and burning black marks onto his face.
• Skolevok ordered his warriors to kill all their enemies.

Jando Skolevok escaped the Shadow of Order with the Daemon’s help and uncovered a sword, while Adams reported his losses to Nimrod. Nimrod gave Adams a Sequence 4 potion and ordered him to undergo the advancement ritual on Husto.

• Skolevok ordered his company to retreat when the Death Wither arrived, then sacrificed a frigate and two Destroyers to open a blood gate into the Warp.
• Skolevok stabbed the Daemon with the combat knife, revealing a sword, but refused to wield it before taking the fleet to Weston.
• Adams traveled to his base on Husto and prayed to Nimrod, reporting his ambushes against the Night Lords and the Tattooed Count’s attack.
• Nimrod began preparing the Sequence 4 Undying potion and ordered Adams to bury himself beside a death-tainted underground river for sixty days.
• Nimrod gave Adams the potion, making him the first descendant to advance to Sequence 4.

Nimrod assigned the newly arrived Exiles and Librarians to his forces, then ordered attacks on key worlds in the Aegis Sector to counter the Night Lords’ raids. As his troops prepared to strike Weston, Night Lords captain Jando Skolevok arrived and demanded the stations submit to him.

• Nimrod welcomed the seven Exiles and two Librarians, accepted their service, and assigned them to his guard, Legion commanders, and War Council.
• Asava asked Nimrod to help uncover secrets in an Astropath’s mind, and Nimrod agreed to teach him when he was strong enough.
• Arsena Dunn projected a star map, and Nimrod identified the Aegis Sector and its fuel-producing world Weston as strategic targets.
• Nimrod ordered the 10th Battalion to attack Weston and the 11th Chapter to strike the twin worlds of Manlock and Heldo.
• The Brown-Robed Prince translated into realspace at Weston, where Jando Skolevok demanded that the stations surrender, provide warships and fuel, and supply slaves.

Jando Skolevok prepared to face Shadow of Order’s fleet while Omega urged him to use a cursed sword. As the fleets clashed, Semenio led Librarian Melon’s squad through Maxans to confront Omega, and Melon’s powers helped kill him.

• Helantex reported that 159 stations accepted Skolevok’s demands while 138 offered fuel but refused to provide population, and Skolevok ordered them punished.
• Skolevok spoke with Omega, then ordered his forces into low orbit when Shadow of Order’s fleet arrived and prepared to withdraw once the fleets engaged.
• Shadow of Order’s Warblood crippled Alpha’s Maxans, and Semenio led Melon’s squad toward Omega’s quarters, killing former Alpha comrades along the way.
• Semenio confronted Omega and declared he had been Shadow of Order from the start.
• Melon and his squad attacked Omega with psychic powers, killed him, and Semenio picked up Omega’s Power Lance.

Ramsey Teleported with his Honor Guard to confront the Brown-Robed Prince, but found Jando Skolevok attacking The Executioner Karen Dewa. A Daemon in a blade freed Skolevok and urged him to kill Ramsey, but Ramsey defeated him and took the blade, which then promised to help Skolevok kill Ramsey and Adams.

• Ramsey ordered Traveler to target the Brown-Robed Prince and Teleported with Sasebo Tezuka and the Honor Guard.
• Sasebo arrived with Ramsey and found Jando Skolevok frozen beside the command throne while The Executioner Karen Dewa confronted him.
• A Bone Serpent emerged from a Bronze Gate and killed Karen Dewa as the Honor Guard opened fire.
• A voice in Skolevok's mind promised he would become the heir of the Lord of the Night if he killed Ramsey, and black flames freed him.
• Skolevok retrieved a dark blade and attacked Ramsey, but Ramsey struck him down and picked up the blade.
• The blade urged Skolevok to become stronger and promised to help him kill Ramsey and Adams.

Per Koschelny used Heldo and Manlock’s resentment toward the Night Lords to draw the worlds toward the Black Emperor’s cause. On Manlock, the Shadows of Order defeated a larger force of Sons of Horus, and Melie agreed to trust Lord Nimrod for protection.

• Per Koschelny ordered the Barons of Corruption to exploit Heldo and Manlock’s old grudge against the Night Lords.
• A Baron of Corruption landed on Manlock and met Melie, chief of the Melie Clan, who offered supplies but wanted to stay out of the war.
• More than a hundred Sons of Horus attacked the Shadows of Order, and the Baron led the counterattack.
• The Shadows of Order and Melie’s clan defeated the Sons of Horus, with nineteen Shadows of Order surviving.
• The Baron told Melie that his clan could not remain neutral and reminded him that the Night Lords served the Warmaster.
• Melie asked whether Lord Nimrod would protect his people, and the Baron assured him that he would.