Chapter Summaries

Nimrod directed the fortress-monastery’s design and reviewed the recruitment and implantation programs before granting Mikel and Thomas new powers. The chapter ended with Thierry deciding to challenge First Company Captain Saisak.

• Nimrod rejected Wensue-HL-19’s symmetrical fortress-monastery design and ordered the Adeptus Mechanicus to build his irregular design instead.
• Thomas reported the selection results, and Mikel briefed Nimrod on Apothecary training, implantation surgeries, and their outcomes.
• Nimrod ordered failed candidates and surgery failures to join an Auxilia reserve and learned that Howard Fender, Bukayo Arshavin, and Thierry Vieira had become Shadows of Order.
• Nimrod gave Mikel a red potion and Thomas a dark-red potion, making them Sequence 9 Apothecary and Sequence 9 Seer and admitting them to the Court of the Black Duke.
• Thierry told Howard and Bukayo that he would challenge First Company Captain Saisak.

Saisak accepted Thierry Vieira’s challenge and prepared to defend the honor of the Vostonians against the Eleventh Legion’s veteran. As three hundred and fifty Terran Astartes arrived on Vostonia and met Nimrod, the honor duel began with both sides watching.

• Saisak accepted Thierry Vieira’s challenge and gave him five days to prepare for their duel beneath the Primarch’s Hive Spire.
• Three hundred and fifty Terran Astartes arrived from Luna, reported to Nimrod, and described their Apothecaries and medical attendants.
• Nimrod ordered the Terrans’ armor repainted with the legion heraldry and told them to learn about Vostonia without disrupting local order.
• Robin confronted Adams and Sanchez for standing with the Vostonians, while Sanchez urged the Legion’s warriors to unite as Nimrod’s sons.
• Arsena announced the Chainsword duel’s rules and wager, and Saisak charged at Thierry Vieira as the fight began.

Thierry defeated Saisak in an honor duel, prompting Nimrod to reform the Eleventh Legion’s command structure as more recruits underwent transformation. After appointing chapter lords and reorganizing companies, Nimrod received word that the Second Legion’s 22nd Fleet had reached Vostonia and considered how its Astartes could strengthen the Thirteenth Legion.

• Thierry matched Saisak’s strength and won their duel by throwing him to the ground and pinning him.
• Ten work cycles later, Nimrod established chapters above companies and squads, naming Howard Fender lord of the First Chapter and appointing other chapter lords.
• Nimrod reorganized the companies, promoted Thierry Vieira to lord of the 8th Legion, and had the chapter lords select Terran recruits as Vostonian-born joined the Shadow of Order.
• Arsena reported that the Second Legion’s 22nd Fleet had arrived at Vostonia, and Nimrod ordered its commander to meet him.
• Nimrod considered the chance to bring tens of thousands of Second Legion Astartes into the Thirteenth Legion.

Nimrod welcomed Suarez and Erlin, captains of the Second Legion, and secretly probed Erlin’s memories to discover that the Faceless Ones ate xenos, gaining slight physical improvements and learning their weaknesses. Concerned about the Legion’s hidden culture, Nimrod abandoned his plan to keep them close and ordered their company commanders to attend a strategic meeting in ten stellar days.

• Suarez reported that the Second Legion had 10,424 Faceless Ones, twenty-four warships in the 22nd Fleet, and the flagship Ashes.
• Suarez explained that volcanic ash from the Legion’s first conquered world had become the Faceless Ones’ tradition, while Nimrod sensed he was hiding something.
• Nimrod entered Erlin’s memories and saw the Faceless Ones eating xenos corpses after a battle on World 22-1.
• Nimrod learned that eating xenos let the Faceless Ones identify their weaknesses and gradually improve their physical traits, which explained their mutations and concealed faces.
• Nimrod rejected his plan to influence the Second Legion from within and ordered its company commanders to attend his legion’s strategic meeting in ten stellar days.

Nimrod dispatched the Eleventh Legion and the Faceless Ones on new campaigns, then offered Lewis Von Valancius a chance to earn a Warrant of Trade by exploring systems near Vostonia. The chapter ended with the delayed 28th Expeditionary Fleet arriving and Azhek Ahriman coming to meet Nimrod.

• Nimrod divided the surrounding region into twelve war zones and ordered the Eleventh Legion's battalions to capture their assigned systems, warning Howard about Aeldari activity.
• Nimrod sent Joffre and a squad of Shadow of Order to join the 22nd Expeditionary Fleet, while assigning the Faceless Ones to cleanse an Ork-held system called Beast.
• Nimrod reviewed candidates for exploration and chose to meet Lewis Von Valancius, then ordered the other candidates to explore unknown regions around Vostonia.
• Lewis told Nimrod he wanted to take part in the Great Crusade, and Nimrod offered him a frigate and elite team if he explored every system between Vostonia and the Crystal Illusion Realm.
• Arsena informed Nimrod that the 28th Expeditionary Fleet had arrived and Azhek Ahriman was on his way.

Nimrod learned that Joegall xenos ships with psychic readings had attacked an Adeptus Mechanicus fleet, and tasked Ahzek Ahriman with locating them. After Ahriman found their vessel, Nimrod set out aboard the Void Hunter to destroy it.

• Nimrod reviewed the report of a psychic Joegall fleet and identified the xenos as a threat that had to be destroyed.
• Ahzek Ahriman and Ohrmuzd Ahriman reported to Nimrod, who heard that the Thousand Sons had 9,999 Warriors and tasked Ahzek with finding the xenos vessel.
• Ahzek studied the Adeptus Mechanicus report and told Nimrod he could lock onto the xenos' route.
• Nimrod summoned Maria Kournikova and ordered her subordinates to infiltrate the ships of Von Valancius and the other targets.
• Nine work cycles later, Ahzek informed Nimrod that he had located the xenos vessel, and Nimrod departed aboard the Void Hunter.

Nimrod led the fleet’s assault on the Joegall cylindrical world, assigning the Legion’s forces to strike its power center, bridge, and hatchery. Jorginho’s boarding party breached the ship but emerged into a chemical lake, leaving the Shadow of Order to charge into an unexpected fight.

• Nimrod ordered the Void Hunter to destroy the Joegall escorts and assigned boarding targets to the Thousand Sons, the Faceless Ones, and the new Legion members.
• The Void Hunter’s guns overwhelmed the Joegall ships, while Ahzek Ahriman and the Thousand Sons waited for the escorts to fall before launching their boarding action.
• Jorginho rallied the Shadow of Order aboard an Assault Boat as it closed on the cylindrical world-ship.
• The Assault Boat breached the Joegall hull, and Jorginho discovered that the compartment beyond the hatch was filled with freezing blue salt water from a chemical lake.
• Jorginho ordered his warriors to charge through the rising water.

Jorginho and the Shadows of Order fought through Joegall ground and flying forces as they advanced toward the Zero-G Corridor. Nimrod led the Honor Guard toward the Joegall Hatchery, where they found enormous gray spheres hanging in a dense fiber forest.

• Jorginho led the Shadows of Order through a chemical lake, killing Joegall warriors with Bolters and Power Swords and freeing battle-brothers trapped in the silt.
• Jorginho ordered part of his company to cover the others as they climbed a Crystal Granule dune toward the Zero-G Corridor.
• Mikhailovsky and his squad repelled Joegall Flyers with gunfire, and Mikhailovsky sang a lullaby that left the flyers dazed and vulnerable.
• Mikhailovsky and Jorginho’s warriors boarded the Zero-G Corridor and climbed toward the bridge through yellow chemical clouds.
• Nimrod led the Honor Guard across the crystal dunes to a fiber forest, where Gabriel’s tactical map revealed the Joegall Hatchery and its psychic hatchlings.
• Nimrod sensed the hatchery’s location and led the group deeper into the forest, where enormous gray spheres hung from the stalks.

Nimrod and the Honor Guard fought Joegall Enhancers in the hatchery, then Nimrod unleashed a psychic storm that destroyed the mutant hatchlings and was felt by the Thousand Sons aboard the world-ship. He summoned Malena Scala to study the xenos warship and ordered the Honor Guard to secure the hatchery while he collected the spoils.

• Five Titan-tall Joegall Enhancers attacked Nimrod and the Honor Guard at the Egg Tree.
• Nimrod used his silver gauntlet and precise full-auto Bolter fire to destroy the five Joegall Enhancers.
• The Joegall eggs fused into mutant hatchlings that spoke into the Honor Guard's minds, and Nimrod unleashed a psychic storm that killed them.
• The Thousand Sons sensed Nimrod's psychic storm, and Apophis and Ahzek Ahriman identified its source as their Primarch.
• Nimrod summoned Malena Scala to study the xenos warship and ordered the Honor Guard to secure the hatchery while he gathered the spoils.

After securing the Joegall world-ship, Nimrod tended his potion-breeding habitats and discovered that the Third Layer Space let him form connections with newborn creatures. He considered using this ability to control Space Apes and ordered his attendants to report any new births in their tribe.

• Mikhailovsky and Jorginho cleared the Joegall from the bridge while Gabriel and Malena studied its technology, and Gabriel received the ship's stored data.
• Ahzek Ahriman obeyed Nimrod's order to stay away from the Hatchery and led the Thousand Sons away to search for records, only to learn the data had been destroyed.
• Nimrod maintained his fragile breeding habitats in the Second Layer Space and observed a Prism Magic Worm being born from a green-striped zebra.
• Nimrod brought the newborn Prism Magic Worm into the Third Layer Space and discovered he could establish a connection with it, but not with an adult worm.
• Nimrod realized he might use the ability to control Space Apes and ordered that he be told when a newborn appeared in their tribe.

Nimrod reviewed the Eleventh Legion’s growing forces and ordered peaceful missions to subdue the inhabited worlds of the Persephone system. On Persephone CW-2, Gibbs’s attempt at contact turned violent when he shot Knight-Commander Fess’s warhorse, and Fess agreed to take the Legionaries to his king.

• Mikel reported that the Legion had 9,532 Shadows of Order aboard its fleet, while Nimrod praised the Apothecary corps’ expansion and ordered Gabriel to equip every warrior.
• Gabriel reported that research into captured xenos flight technology could improve Auxilia mobility, and Nimrod ordered the work kept secret.
• Arsena reported that three inhabited Persephone planets had low technological development, and Nimrod assigned Kirkland, Gibbs, and Chambers to lead recruitment squads to demand their submission.
• Nimrod trained the three Chapter leaders as Lawyers and instructed them to confirm surrender procedures before setting out with newly transformed recruits.
• Gibbs landed outside a city on Persephone CW-2 and tried to communicate peacefully with the local knights.
• When Fess said he had never heard of Nimrod or the Imperium, Gibbs shot his warhorse and ordered him to lead the Legionaries to the king, which Fess agreed to do.

Gibbs forced the Golden Lion Kingdom to submit by demonstrating that its weapons could not harm him, while Kirkland captured the black cats causing nightmares on Persephone Prime EX1. After Persephone was conquered, Nimrod ordered the fleet onward toward a world ruled by knights.

• Gibbs destroyed part of the palace wall and challenged King Nimrod’s ruler to fire a volley at his armor.
• The king’s musketeers shot Gibbs, but their bullets did not harm him, and the king agreed to submit.
• Gibbs used local guides to continue conquering the surrounding nations.
• Kirkland’s team found and captured twenty-three Black Dream Cats, which Nimrod recognized as ingredients for the Nightmare pathway potion.
• After Persephone was conquered, Nimrod ordered the fleet to depart, and Bukayo Arshavin reported a world ruled by knights.

Nimrod prepared to bring House Vicstrix into the Imperium, while Wilshire endured another brutal trial at the Imando Training Center. After five weeks of travel, Nimrod’s fleet reached the Daxos Binary System and summoned its lord, Bukayo Arshavin, to report.

• Nimrod sent the Thousand Sons toward the unknown southwest of Vostonia and ordered the fleet to the Daxos Binary System, intending to subdue House Vicstrix through strength and technology.
• Nimrod summoned Gabriel and later ordered him to study the Joegall technology using his newly granted power.
• At the Imando Training Center, Wilshire ran through a rain-soaked individual trial as one boy collapsed and others later forfeited.
• After five standard weeks, Nimrod’s fleet arrived in the Daxos Binary System, and Nimrod summoned Bukayo Arshavin to the Void Hunter to report on the situation.

Bukayo reported House Vicstrix’s strength and condition to Nimrod, who planned to bring the Knight house under his rule and promoted Bukayo to Nightmare. Nimrod arrived on Daxos Alpha to meet Campbell Vicstrix, whose modest reception suggested he had not submitted.

• Bukayo told Nimrod that House Vicstrix controlled Daxos Alpha, had at least seventy-nine Knight suits, and was interested in Mars’s loyalty to the Emperor.
• Bukayo described House Vicstrix’s poorly maintained suits and said Campbell had deployed thirty-five Knights during their meeting.
• Nimrod decided to meet Campbell and give him time to consider joining, then rewarded Bukayo with a potion that advanced him to Nightmare.
• Nimrod, Bukayo, Arsena, and Gabriel traveled to Daxos Alpha, where Nimrod counted forty-seven Knight mechs awaiting them.
• Nimrod saw that Campbell had arranged no civilian or ceremonial welcome, then walked toward the central Knight mech with his entourage.

Campbell, the Knight King of House Vicstrix, endured Nimrod’s psychic pressure and challenged him to a three-part honor duel rather than submit. He chose a contest repairing damaged Knight Mechs, and Nimrod assigned Gabriel to compete against Campbell’s Sacred Maintainer.

• Nimrod revealed the force of his Primarch soul, leaving Campbell and the people around him shaken before Campbell greeted him.
• Campbell refused to submit to Nimrod and challenged him to an honor duel; Nimrod accepted.
• Campbell changed the duel to three contests, requiring Nimrod to win two before Campbell would submit.
• Campbell proposed that the first contest test who could keep a damaged Knight Mech operational longer after repairing it.
• Nimrod chose Gabriel to represent him, while Campbell ordered Saul to prepare two damaged Knight Mechs and win the contest.

Nimrod and his team reached House Vicstrix’s Knight Mech hall, where Campbell set the standards for an honor duel between Gabriel and Saul. Nimrod then sent Tierney’s reconnaissance platoon to investigate attacks by large beasts on Daxos, while Sanchez awaited a response from the Aeldari on a feral world.

• Nimrod and his subordinates examined strange traces at Blade Peak, and Nimrod identified them as signs of extraordinary creatures.
• Campbell opened the Knight Mech hall and proposed judging the duel by repair time, operating duration, and weapon power; Nimrod accepted the standards.
• Gabriel and Saul stayed behind to repair the damaged Knight Mechs as Nimrod left for a banquet and then returned to his ship.
• Nimrod ordered Tierney to lead a reconnaissance platoon into Daxos and investigate attacks by large local beasts.
• Sanchez checked a data-slate in the Triken System and expected the Aeldari on a feral world to have taken his bait.

Nimrod left Sanchez to hunt the Exodite Aeldari on Triken while he entrusted the system to Sanchez’s forces. Sanchez lured thousands of dinosaur-riding Aeldari into a trap-filled assault on a supply camp, and as the attack collapsed, he spotted the fleeing tribal chief as his next target.

• Nimrod handed the Triken System over to Sanchez and set out with five Hunters of the 7th Legion to eliminate the Exodite Aeldari.
• Julian reported that the Exodite Aeldari had attacked the supply point at Hunting Ground A-007, where Sanchez had prepared layered traps.
• The Aeldari chief ordered his riders to scatter and charge, while hidden explosives and the 333rd Solar Auxilia defenders killed many attackers.
• The Exodite Aeldari returned fire with advanced bows, but Hunter’s chained traps and buried melta bombs devastated their assault.
• Sanchez spotted the fleeing tribal chief and marked him as his next target.

The Shadows of Order fought the Exodite Aeldari, and Sanchez killed their chieftain after exploiting his superior perception and combat skill. On Daxos Alpha, Tierney’s Scouts began hunting Blue Horned Rhinos, but one beast’s lightning attack injured a Scout, leaving Tierney to seize the opening.

• The Exodite Aeldari chieftain led thousands of warriors against the Shadows of Order, and Sanchez ordered his men to use their range and mobility advantage.
• The chieftain charged Sanchez, but Sanchez dodged his arrows and killed him with a chainsword strike.
• Tierney learned about the Blue Horned Rhinos and obtained experimental Arc Hunting Rifles from the Tech Sergeant.
• Tierney led his Scouts into the forest, where their shots brought down several rhinos by the river.
• A Blue Horned Rhino struck a Scout with lightning, and Tierney realized the beast could not attack continuously.

Tierney discovered a herd of Blue Horned Rhinos heading toward human settlements ahead of Daxos Alpha’s Reaping season, and Nimrod ordered the Third Legion to help defend against the beast tide. Meanwhile, Gabriel became the first to repair a Knight Mech, but the tide began just as Nimrod and Campbell prepared to test the machines.

• Tierney hunted Blue Horned Rhinos, found a white horn, and spotted herds moving toward human settlements before the Reaping season.
• Tierney reported his findings to Nimrod, who ordered Bukayo and the Third Legion to prepare to resist the beast tide.
• Gabriel used knowledge awakened by his gene-father’s gift to devise a repair plan and became the first to repair a Knight Mech.
• Nimrod returned with Bukayo and Arsena to meet Campbell, who said the Sacred Maintainer would finish another repair within twelve standard hours.
• Nimrod sensed the approaching herd and offered his warriors’ help, but Campbell refused.
• Campbell received a report that the beast tide had begun and was larger than any before.

Nimrod sent the Eleventh Legion to help the Vicstrix knights defeat the beast tide and Ratling raiders. Campbell saw the Legion’s overwhelming strength but regained his courage by remembering that he could preserve Vicstrix’s independence by winning their agreed duel.

• Campbell saw the Tenacious overwhelmed by Blue Horned Rhinos and asked Nimrod for help, offering an alliance in return.
• Nimrod agreed to aid Vicstrix but insisted that Campbell would submit after their duel, and the Eleventh Legion began deploying.
• The Shadows of Order broke the beast tide’s advance, rescued knights from psychic attacks, and pursued the Ratlings across the battlefields.
• Tierney led his scout platoon against a Ratling tribe, drove them off, and ordered his warriors to collect their hands.
• The Sacred Mars reported that the beast tide and Ratling swarm had been defeated, while Campbell realized the Legion could destroy Vicstrix and drew courage from the duel.