Recaps

Cadia’s destruction unleashed the Great Rift, extinguishing the Astronomican and cutting the Imperium off from itself as Chaos surged across the galaxy. Trazyn concluded that humanity had failed their bargain and left Cadia, while Lion El'Jonson saw the new rift and faced a vast Chaos counterattack.

• Abaddon ordered his servants to destroy the Blackstone Fortress’s core and let the fortress crash into Cadia’s Blackstone Pylons, triggering the planet’s catastrophic destruction.
• Warp energy erupted from Cadia and tore toward the Imperium’s southeast, while the Astronomican went dark and Warp storms severed communication and travel.
• Trazyn failed to capture Malcador, decided humanity had ruined their deal, and left Cadia carrying its final time scrolls.
• The Great Rift spread across the Imperium, isolating worlds and unleashing Chaos armies as other races recognized humanity’s decline.
• Gamma World’s Blackstone Pylons redirected the rift through the center of Gamma World and the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, isolating Gamma World on the dark side.
• Lion El'Jonson saw the Great Rift open as Chaos reinforcements multiplied and vast Chaos armies advanced toward him and the Fallen Angels.

Gamma World abandoned plans to repair the Great Rift and prioritized completing the Second Ring and its fourth ascension phase. As Chaos forces gathered to attack Gamma, the Chief Council discussed defenses and powerful weapons for securing the worlds around Gamma.

• Chaos forces emerged from the Great Rift and massed toward Gamma, which they viewed as a major threat to their plans for the dark side of the Milky Way.
• Gamma World concluded that repairing the Great Rift would take too long and chose to share its repair technology while leaving other races to use it themselves.
• Gamma's Chief Council made construction of the Second Ring and the fourth phase of ascension its priorities after the plan to repair the Milky Way was brought to a close.
• Koro warned that daemons and Vashtorr's forces threatened the Second Ring, prompting the council to focus on defending Energy Planet 2 and purging Chaos from the Outer Ring.
• The council reviewed Neutron Sweep and the Blackstone Fortress as Colossus weapons, then identified Nanite Storm as another mobile and adaptable weapon.

Gray Tempest consumed the Gamma World's metal reserves, then received Blackstone technology and orders to clear Chaos from the Second Ring. The Gamma World declared that all life within the hundred-light-year region must evacuate within three months, while its message and Warp-sealing data gave isolated human worlds renewed hope.

• Gray Tempest devoured metal ore and evolved its nanobots to imitate powerful weapons and megastructures, then reluctantly accepted orders to serve as a cleaner in the Second Ring.
• The Gamma World equipped Gray Tempest with Blackstone Pylon and Blackstone Fortress data so she could resist corruption and fight Chaos.
• Miss Skaiqi ordered the third detachment to clear Chaos near Energy Planet 2 as Warp influence spread from the Great Rift.
• Lion El'Jonson met the pardoned Angels of Absolution and studied the Gamma World's shared data on sealing Warp rifts.
• The Gamma World broadcast an evacuation order demanding that all life within the Second Ring leave within three months.
• Fetrus and other isolated human worlds received the Gamma World's message and took heart that humanity still resisted Chaos and the Empire still existed.

Gamma World began a crusade against Chaos forces, using a spatial-jumping Neutron Sweep and Blackstone Fortress to destroy enemies across the Second Ring. On Terra, news of Cadia’s defeat fueled political turmoil and a wave of purges among the Imperium’s leaders.

• Gamma World ignored Chaos forces’ contempt for its warning and began clearing them from the Second Ring.
• Gamma World connected a Necron phase engine to its Neutron Sweep, enabling the colossus weapon to jump instantly between worlds.
• Gamma World’s Neutron Sweep and Blackstone Fortress appeared over a Chaos-held planet and devastated its surface.
• News of Cadia’s defeat reached Terra, where the Imperial Palace tightened security amid growing unrest and exterminations.
• Ursarkar Creed, Vilania de Tempest, Ilasta Eisen, and Vansir Kosov faced mounting crises and political conflicts within the Imperium.

The High Lords Council argued over who was responsible for the Great Rift while fearing Malcador’s return would strip away their power. After learning that Malcador survived Cadia, they adjourned to scheme against his influence as he prepared to return and purge the Imperium’s corrupt leadership.

• The High Lords blamed one another for the Warp corruption, the Astronomican’s failure, and the Imperium’s losses while refusing to accept responsibility.
• The council discussed how Malcador’s return could weaken the Ecclesiarchy, Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus, Inquisition, and Officio Assassinorum.
• The High Lords learned that the Astronomican remained unrepaired and that Malcador had survived Cadia, where only tens of thousands of Cadians escaped.
• The High Lords adjourned and began planning how to preserve their influence, with some likely to attempt assassinating Malcador.
• Malcador gathered his forces on Cadia and resolved to purge the Imperium’s roots.

Ultramar faced mounting Chaos and Tyranid attacks as Calgar assessed Gamma World's Gravity Slingshot technology and learned that Malcador had begun returning to the Imperium. A message from the Angels of Absolution promised that Guilliman and the other Primarchs would awaken, while Gamma World had also hinted it possessed a way to save Guilliman.

• Gamma World offered Ultramar the Gravity Slingshot, a technology for transporting individual warships through realspace without relying on the Warp.
• Calgar considered the technology as Ultramar struggled against Nurgle's forces, Warp storms, the Great Rift, and Tyranid attacks.
• Calgar learned that Malcador had begun returning to the Imperium and received a message from the Angels of Absolution.
• The Angels of Absolution declared that a Primarch had returned and that Guilliman and the other Primarchs would awaken.
• Calgar connected the promise to Lion El'Jonson's return, while Gamma World's earlier disclosures suggested it had technology that could save Guilliman.

Lion El'Jonson arranged for the Angels of Absolution to contact Ultramar and sought Gamma World's help in reviving Guilliman, despite his fear of its dangerous research. As Lion's fleet continued its journey, Chaos raiders appeared again, leaving him to confront the seemingly endless war against the Warp.

• Calgar kept the negotiations secret while the Angels of Absolution prepared to contact Ultramar about awakening Guilliman.
• Lion El'Jonson learned that Gamma World imprisoned and studied daemons, altered Angron, and extracted Warp power using the Blackstone Fortress, which alarmed him.
• Lion reflected on Guilliman's Chaos-poisoned wound and trusted Gamma World to attempt the revival, believing The Emperor had promised the Primarchs would return.
• Lion considered the Imperium's need for the Primarchs and a renewed Great Crusade to confront the threats facing humanity.
• Chaos raiders appeared along Lion's route, and he recognized that Chaos would return unless its roots in the Warp could be destroyed.

Gamma World used Blackstone Fortress technology to recover souls taken by Chaos, proving that even souls scattered into the Warp could be reclaimed. The operation drew the attention of the Chaos Gods, while The Emperor’s forces gathered to protect Gamma World.

• Gamma World scientists captured Warp particles and discovered that the first damaged soul could not be restored because it had vanished from the universe.
• The laboratory successfully extracted a second soul from a Slaanesh worshipper’s armor and sent recovered souls to Gamma World’s Afterlife Employment Service Center.
• Cyrus learned that Gamma World could reclaim soldiers lost to the Warp and ordered the earliest fallen Gravediggers returned to service.
• The extraction drew the attention of daemons and Chaos Gods, and Gamma World’s Blackstone Fortress siphoned tiny fragments of their power.
• The Emperor sent the Cursebound Legion and thousands of Space Marines to guard Gamma World as the Chaos Gods approached.

Gamma World extracted souls from the Warp and began using them to produce soldiers, provoking the Chaos Gods when it pulled fragments of Sanguinius from their grasp. Sanguinius’s fragments returned to the material universe, ending the Blood Angels’ Red Thirst and leaving Dante able to rest as a lone Lamenter wondered at his sudden recovery.

• Gamma World drew preserved soul imprints from the Warp and rapidly manufactured new soldiers from them.
• The Chaos Gods noticed Gamma World extracting fragments of the Blood Angels’ angelic souls, and Nurgle grew angry when he sensed the theft.
• Slaanesh, Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle reacted to the loss, while the hidden Aeldari gods sensed their anger.
• Fragments of Sanguinius returned to the material universe, and the Blood Angels’ Red Thirst abruptly vanished across the chapter and its successor Chapters.
• Dante killed a Chaos warrior and realized he could finally rest, while the last Lamenter drifting alone wondered why his Red Thirst had disappeared.

Gamma World advanced its Warp research while preparing to extract Chaos power from Angron and restore him. As Angron was taken to the laboratory, the Fourth Army Group arrived at a planet three thousand light-years away.

• Gamma World cultivated a winged figure and produced soldiers whose time-capsule education gave them personal reasons to defend their homeworld.
• The Fourth Army Group boarded upgraded Lunar-class cruisers and jumped toward a world once held by an Imperial Knight House.
• Gamma World's psychic laboratories pursued a method to extract a specific Chaos God's power, with Angron as their sole experimental subject.
• Researchers transported Angron's weakened, half-bodied form into a laboratory under a powerful anti-Warp field, leaving him unable to resist or contact the Warp.
• Gamma World's jump fleet crossed three thousand light-years and arrived above the target planet.

The Death Guard and Thousand Sons fought over the Threefold Forge Worlds, each claiming the planet was destined for their god. As their war devastated the world, ancient warriors in space prepared to enter the battlefield.

• The Death Guard's Second and Fourth Plague Companies landed on Three Gates and discovered the Thousand Sons were already fighting Imperial forces there.
• The Death Guard spread a rust virus through the tank factories while the Fourth Company competed with Tzeentchian sorcerers for the worlds' psykers.
• Nurgle's death sorcerers and the Thousand Sons unleashed opposing psychic storms that ravaged the Forge World and its inhabitants.
• The Death Guard and Thousand Sons escalated their war as Imperial soldiers, Adeptus Mechanicus personnel, and cult clerics were pulled into the fighting.
• Ancient soldiers aboard probes sensed the familiar presence of the Thousand Sons and Death Guard and decided to destroy most of the battlefield's enemies before entering.

Gamma World began its assault on the Chaos-held planet with devastating orbital strikes and a rapid ground invasion. Its expeditionary force cornered the Death Guard's Second Company and overwhelmed them with advanced weapons and technology.

• Gamma World bombarded the battlefield and a Nurgle-corrupted factory with light lances, destroying Chaos forces and scattering survivors.
• Gamma World sent Drop Pods carrying veteran soldiers in advanced biomass Power Armor to protect the planet's people and secure its Forge World.
• Gamma's soldiers used psychic sensors and heavy weapons to eliminate Chaos ambushes and cultists hiding beneath a steel factory.
• Notaus gathered the surviving Death Guard Second Company in an underground mine, but Gamma's expeditionary force tracked them down and attacked.
• Gamma's weapons, healing armor, Necron constructs, and force-field shields overwhelmed the Death Guard, while the earthquakes across the planet ceased.

Gamma World’s forces hunted Chaos on Three Gates Star while its laboratory recreated an uncorrupted Angron and the pivotal battlefield from his past. The new Angron joined the War of the High Walls with Gamma World’s aid and charged toward the slave masters.

• Gamma World’s Expeditionary Forces cleared District Nine and began air-dropping troops into District Ten, absorbing the souls of Chaos sorcerers and Thousand Sons warriors.
• Gamma World’s psychic laboratory made progress reconstructing Angron from soul particles and prepared a new version who would have to defeat his daemon self to reclaim his authority.
• Gamma World recreated the War of the High Walls on Nuceria, bringing the new Angron into the battle where the Emperor had once taken him away from his comrades.
• Angron rallied the enslaved gladiators, fought and defeated Meat Mountain, and pushed toward the fortress as armored warriors arrived to support the uprising.
• Angron roared at the slave masters and continued his charge despite the blades embedded in his body.

Angron led the slaves to defeat the nobles and kill their leader, then collapsed from his wounds. Gamma World retrieved him and completed surgery to remove the Butcher's Nails and restore his body, and he awoke in an unfamiliar ward.

• Angron charged through the nobles' defenses despite his grievous wounds, while his slave brothers fought beside him.
• A slave ambushed Angron with a thermodynamic spear, but Angron pulled it free and killed Kaegrus, prompting the remaining nobles to retreat.
• The victorious slaves celebrated their freedom as Angron collapsed and lost consciousness.
• Gamma World brought Angron back from the gravitational field of history and began repairing his body and removing the Butcher's Nails.
• The researchers completed Angron's physical restoration and moved him to a ward, where he soon woke up.

Angron awoke on Gamma World and learned from Oenomaus that he had been revived with a chance to save his Brotherhood. After witnessing the agonized life of his ascended self, Angron chose to stay and atone rather than leave.

• Angron awoke and was stunned to find Oenomaus alive, who explained that Gamma World had revived him and could also restore members of the Brotherhood.
• Oenomaus persuaded Angron to see the ascended Angron and learn how his life had been used and twisted.
• Angron watched the history of his future self, from The Emperor abandoning the Brotherhood to Angron's fall under Chaos and Khorne.
• The ascended Angron briefly recognized the freedom of the Angron before him, but the Butcher's Nails dragged him back into torment.
• Oenomaus explained that killing the daemon Angron would only return him to endless agony, and Angron asked how he could help revive the Brotherhood.
• Angron chose not to flee and resolved to atone for the mistakes of his other self.

Angron chose to enlist with Gamma World and atone for his past, then received a mission to stop Kharn’s World Eaters from breaching Gamma’s defenses. Meanwhile, Chaos forces near Is III discovered through a ritual that Angron had returned and continued preparing their infiltration.

• Angron told Oenomaus he would return to the battlefield, help restore his slave brothers, and atone for his past.
• After learning about the war against Gamma World and the fates of his brothers, Angron enlisted, received armor and a Power Axe, and prepared to prove himself under Sigismund’s command.
• Angron accepted a mission to stop Kharn’s World Eaters from opening a breach in Gamma World’s defenses, with Oenomaus joining him and Margo withholding his trust.
• Chaos forces above Is III tore open the Warp rift again, hijacked a Gamma World smuggling vessel, and used its people in a divination ritual.
• The Chaos sorcerers saw the ritual react and concluded that Angron had returned.

Human Angron emerged on Gamma World and joined its war against Chaos, drawing Khorne’s attention and hopes for a fight between human and daemon Primarchs. Tzeentch then moved to exploit Angron’s return by summoning Lorgar and asking whether Corax or Horus might follow.

• Angron arrived on Gamma World as a human and continued working under a number until he had atoned for his sins.
• Khorne welcomed Angron’s return and imagined blessing him, then pitting him against daemon Angron for entertainment.
• Angron joined the battlefield, adapted quickly, and fought the Chaos forces, whose attacks seemed to trigger Khorne’s blessings on him.
• Khorne watched Angron grow stronger and called for the daemon Primarchs to fight for his attention.
• Tzeentch summoned Lorgar and told him Angron had appeared, hoping the news would draw out Corax or Horus.

Angron’s return and Gamma World’s rapid rise drew the attention and schemes of powerful factions across the Milky Way. Meanwhile, Cisrain reached the third stage of genetic ascension and took his place on Gamma World’s Silver Throne, viewing authority as something founded on trust.

• Angron fought on the battlefield with graceful movements and poetic verses, while his demonic form remained bound to the Butcher’s Nails by the real universe’s impression of him.
• The Necrons considered Gamma World a source of technological and spiritual knowledge, even as they feared its growth and other factions turned their attention toward it.
• Cisrain captured the Warp shadow forming over Gamma World for study and advanced from the second to the third stage of genetic ascension.
• Gamma World’s people built Cisrain a Silver Throne from Tier 3 alloy, and he watched the wars from it.
• Cisrain reflected that lasting authority came from the shared trust of others rather than violence.

Cisrain surveyed the Chaos forces surrounding Gamma World and ordered a strike against Vashtorr, who had disappeared after the fall of Cadia. He left the chapter by activating the Colossus Project to destroy Vashtorr’s energy planet and force him out of hiding.

• Cisrain inspected the star map and saw Chaos forces swarming across the second ring around Gamma World.
• Cisrain considered Vashtorr a threat because he might use his research into Cadia’s Blackstone Pylons to overcome anti-Warp fields.
• Cisrain’s secretary reported that Vashtorr had vanished into the Warp after appearing near Cadia, and that his later movements could not be traced.
• Cisrain asked whether Vashtorr’s energy planet remained and decided to destroy it to make Vashtorr show himself.
• Cisrain ordered the Colossus Project activated.

Gamma World prepared a vast force and anti-daemonic weapons for a strike against Vashtorr, while Chaos powers recognized that Gamma World’s continued existence obstructed their conquest of the galaxy’s dark side. Abaddon held back from attacking Terra as strange psychic forces began purging daemons from his fleets.

• Gamma World assembled half an army group and prepared the Colossus’s Neutron Sweep device, obelisks, specialized detectors, and a hypercube construct for its planned strike against Vashtorr.
• Chaos forces around Gamma World spread news of the mobilization, restrained their operations, and sought to draw more forces toward the region.
• Chaos leaders concluded that Gamma World had become a rallying point for human worlds and that the dark side could not be conquered while it remained.
• Abaddon returned his forces to their lair after Cadia and ignored Black Legion veterans urging him to attack Terra, intending to avoid Horus’s failed strategy.
• Mechanical tapeworms began tearing daemons from Abaddon’s Chaos Fleets as powerful psychic fluctuations made the warships’ machine spirits scream.

Vashtorr persuaded Abaddon to help him seize an ancient weapon by promising the Black Legion powerful support, and directed Abaddon’s fleet toward Magdalo World. The Iron Angels were overwhelmed, leaving Chapter Master Rubicius and a few dozen warriors to defend their monastery as Chaos forces descended.

• Vashtorr restored the Nemesis and offered Abaddon technological support in exchange for help securing an Old Ones-forged weapon.
• Abaddon agreed to attack Magdalo World, home to the dwindling Iron Angels Chapter, while remaining wary of Vashtorr’s ambitions.
• Vashtorr guided Abaddon’s fleet through Warp routes to Magdalo, where the Marauder Legion and Chaos sorcery overwhelmed the Iron Angels’ space force.
• Rubicius sent distress signals after the Iron Angels lost contact with their space force, then took his place at the monastery’s outer defenses with the remaining warriors.
• Chaos drop pods descended through the sky as Rubicius and the few dozen Iron Angels prepared to defend Magdalo.

Abaddon and Vashtorr led the Black Legion’s assault on Magdalo, pushing the Iron Angels and Sisters of Battle to the brink of defeat. Gamma World sent the remaining Fourth Army Group to confront Vashtorr, and the chapter ended as the Black Legion suddenly froze under an oppressive presence.

• Abaddon and Vashtorr attacked the Iron Angels monastery, overwhelming its defenders as Vashtorr descended to claim what he sought.
• The Iron Angels captain and the Sisters of Battle prepared to make a final stand as Chaos forces closed in on the chapel.
• Gamma World detected Vashtorr’s location and ordered the remaining Fourth Army Group to investigate and seize the Webway key fragment.
• Seraph and the other conscripts boarded warships carrying weapons prepared to counter Vashtorr and Chaos corruption.
• The Black Legion drove the Iron Angels toward annihilation, but its marauders and Abaddon suddenly halted as they sensed an oppressive presence.

Abaddon and Vashtorr attacked the Steel Angels monastery to recover a Webway key fragment, but Gamma World arrived without warning and devastated the Nemesis. As Vashtorr hurried to the Chapter vault, Abaddon encountered Sanguinius descending into the battle.

• Abaddon felt a warning tremor as he approached the monastery, while Vashtorr used sorcery to turn a human into a Chaos construct and break the defenders’ resistance.
• A Sister Superior charged the attackers with the Blade of Loyalty, and Ze'en died defending the Steel Angels’ vault after the monastery was struck by a lance from space.
• Gamma World’s warship suddenly appeared beside the Black Legion and heavily damaged the Nemesis with macro-cannon fire and a plasma lance.
• Abaddon recognized Gamma World as the source of his warning, while Vashtorr hurried toward the vault to seize the Oathstone containing a Webway key fragment.
• Sanguinius appeared before Abaddon, who recognized the Primarch as Ze'en died.

An angel sent by Gamma World pursued Vashtorr to seize the Webway key fragment, while Abaddon mistook the angel for Sanguinius and attacked. The angel’s reinforcements battled the Black Legion as Vashtorr repaired the key fragment, only for the angel to steal it and leave Vashtorr holding a humiliating substitute.

• The angel ignored Abaddon’s challenges and requested reinforcements while fleeing toward Vashtorr.
• Gamma World deployed Viper Squad, whose phase-engine warriors slaughtered Black Legion troops and forced Abaddon to call on Chaos sorcerers to hinder their teleportation.
• Vashtorr transformed the Oathstone into a Webway key fragment and celebrated being one step from godhood.
• The angel crashed into Vashtorr, swapped the repaired fragment for a humiliating object, and took the key fragment while thanking him.

Angel and the Gamma World forces escaped with the Webway key fragment, while Vashtorr and Abaddon agreed to unite against Gamma World. Gamma World began striking Vashtorr’s energy planets as the two prepared for war.

• Angel escaped Vashtorr with the Webway key fragment as Gamma World’s anti-daemon field blocked Vashtorr’s attempt to trap him in a Warp rift.
• Angel called the warriors fighting Abaddon to withdraw, and they returned to their mothership with the fragment while Abaddon’s left arm remained disabled by a neural extermination round.
• Gamma World’s warship vanished after dropping a weapon onto the planet, triggering a massive explosion and atmospheric incineration.
• Vashtorr entered Abaddon’s Nemesis and urged war against Gamma World, then revealed his plans and offered his forces, weapons, and the Ark of Omen to strengthen Abaddon’s army.
• Abaddon accepted Vashtorr’s offer as a strategic gain, and Gamma World’s attacks on Vashtorr’s energy planets began.