Recaps

An Ethereal and the High Council reviewed evidence that Gamma World had manipulated the Tau Empire and spread reports claiming the Tau were allies of Chaos. Aun'Va ordered caution, the purging of Gamma World, and vigilance against the Imperium of Man, then kept Shadowsun behind to give her something.

• An Ethereal connected attacks on Eastern Fringe home worlds and Chaos outbreaks to Gamma World, then reviewed reports showing its gradual expansion and infiltration of the Tau Empire.
• The Ethereal warned the Supreme that a dark curse had appeared, while High Council members dismissed the Chaos alliance reports as fabricated and proposed sending Commander Farsight's fleet against Gamma World.
• Shadowsun cautioned that the rumors might serve a purpose regardless of whether the Tau knew of them, and reminded the council that Gamma World had captured an Ethereal.
• Aun'Va supported Shadowsun's call for caution and ordered Gamma World purged while directing the Tau to guard against the Imperium of Man.
• After the council dispersed, Aun'Va asked Shadowsun to come with him so he could give her something.

Aun'Va prepared for growing tensions within the Tau Empire while the Imperium received signals claiming the Tau had allied with Chaos. Inquisitor Klius assembled a massive force against the Tau, and Rogue Trader Griss realized the Imperium had concealed the real reason for its renewed campaign.

• Aun'Va made plans for the Tau Empire's future as its factions grew more divided.
• Inquisitor Lorne executed Governor Leons for colluding with the Tau and ordered witnesses to erase their memories of the incident.
• The Griss Rogue Trader Dynasty received a Tau signal about an alliance with Chaos, prompting Tashan to recognize the danger and Lord Griss to seek Inquisitor Klius.
• Iron Hands blocked Griss from entering the command ship, while Red Scorpions, Minotaurs, White Scars, and other Imperial forces gathered for a meeting.
• Griss inferred that the Imperium had recalled its forces because Angron had appeared nearby and the Tau were suspected of joining Chaos.
• Klius's conference table filled with representatives from the Chapters as the Imperium prepared to stamp out the Tau threat.

More than a dozen Chapters and Imperial forces gathered at the Kaladon Conference to plan a campaign against the Tau Empire and Angron, while their rivalries undermined cooperation. Kardan Stronos restored order temporarily, but the force remained divided, and the chapter ended with a warning that someone had already grown wary of their actions.

• The Inquisition purged suspected Tau sympathizers across the Damocles Gulf, prompting fierce resistance and anti-Imperial uprisings on some worlds.
• At the Kaladon Conference, the Chapters rejected the mortal naval admiral’s authority and argued over how to conduct the campaign.
• Kasan Sabius and Sirae Karagon represented the Red Scorpions as the Black Templars dismissed their role and claimed the right to fight the Imperium’s enemies.
• Kardan Stronos silenced the bickering Chapters and warned them that Angron was too dangerous to face recklessly.
• Stronos’s forces prepared to target enemy forces while Imperial agents continued searching Tau territory for Angron’s location.
• A Dark Angels force entered the council chamber, and someone warned that their actions had already drawn suspicion.

The Dark Angels and other Chapters coordinated an Imperial campaign to invade the Tau Empire through Damocles Gulf or Mugulath Bay, while the Tau faced threats on both fronts. Gamma World then entered the Tau restricted zone and demanded access to investigate alleged trade-related losses, threatening war if the Tau resisted.

• The Dark Angels, Iron Hands, White Scars, and Blood Ravens temporarily suppressed the Chapters’ disputes and agreed to cooperate against the Tau Empire.
• Imperial leaders planned to cross Damocles Gulf or Mugulath Bay, with the Red Scorpions and Black Templars tasked with seizing a supply point.
• The Tau Empire repurposed Bork’an’s defensive isolation belt to receive defecting Imperial nobles, weakening its defenses against an Imperial attack.
• Ethreal An’muthas and the Tau at Kosi’ma’en monitored Gamma World after the High Council raised its threat level.
• Commander Ons learned that Gamma World had entered the Tau restricted zone, then received Gamma World’s demand to investigate alleged causes of its losses and its warning that resistance would be treated as provocation.

The Tau Empire faced Gamma World's demand to inspect its worlds, while Skaiqi's fleet prepared to exploit the manufactured Chaos Tau scandal as a pretext for conquest. The Tau's anger at Gamma World deepened their internal divisions as the enemy fleet entered Koboi District.

• Commander Angsi and other Tau leaders condemned Gamma World's inspection demand and concluded that either accepting or refusing it would lead to war.
• Gamma World's provocative messages and accusations fueled resentment among Tau toward humanity, the Water Caste, and alien races within the empire.
• Tau infiltrators reported that they had found extensive evidence of Tau producing Chaos Tau as Gamma World's fleet entered Koboi District.
• Skaiqi revealed that Gamma World had used Thought Seal technology to implant false memories in Tau and judged the Tau Empire vulnerable to internal division.
• Skaiqi dismissed the Tau Empire's resistance and asserted that Gamma World would claim its resources and territory.

Gamma World’s fleet prepared to attack the Tau Empire, whose leaders mobilized allies and fleets to resist while launching a smear campaign linking Gamma World to Chaos. The Tau focused on surviving the coming war and expanding beyond Damocles Gulf, accepting that the conflict would end in one side’s destruction.

• Captain Idamas learned that a xenos fleet had been spotted behind the Gamma World force, while Silver-White Armor warriors readied themselves for battle.
• Silver-White Armor Chapter Master Sigismund resolved that Gamma World’s veterans would act as blades and bear the blame to protect its new generation.
• Tau commanders ordered allies near the Korsi'mai'en sept world and the Tau Empire’s Forge Worlds to prepare a counterattack while they awaited Commander Farsight’s fleet.
• The Tau Empire spread rumors connecting Gamma World to Chaos, staging fake arrests on a gateway planet to influence human scouts and undermine trust between Gamma World and the Imperium of Man.
• The Tau Empire redirected its main effort toward resisting the Imperial fleet and expanding beyond Damocles Gulf, choosing to fight rather than submit.

As Gamma World and the Tau Empire prepared for war, Brown oversaw the completed Megastructure Synapse Condenser and exploited Tech-Priest Vetius’s hidden designs. The story left the Condenser awaiting activation as Brown prepared to use it to uncover more forbidden technology.

• Gamma World's fleet entered the Tau Empire’s forbidden inner territory, while Commander Angsi and Tau forces prepared to meet the invasion.
• Tau Fire Warriors and human auxiliaries on the sentinel world vowed to fight Gamma World and prove their loyalty to the Tau Empire.
• Tech-Priest Vetius gave Titus a Gamma World Bolter and a contract allowing soldiers who died near the main fleet battlefield to return and serve again.
• Brown reviewed research progress and confirmed that the Megastructure Synapse Condenser in Karamat had been completed but remained inactive because of power constraints.
• Brown discovered that Vetius had secretly stored valuable Imperial and Necron technology, copied much of it, and planned to use the Condenser to investigate what remained hidden.

Brown oversaw the first test of the Light Lance, a weapon capable of striking targets across ten light-years, and directed his team to aim it at a Tau homeworld system. As the Synapse Condenser calculated the firing solution and drained power from Gamma World's factories, the Light Lance moved into position, leaving the test shot imminent.

• Karamat completed the Light Lance, a Necron-based weapon that could precisely strike targets within ten light-years.
• Brown rejected testing the weapon on an asteroid and ordered his team to fire at a Tau homeworld system instead.
• Brown's technicians connected the Light Lance to the Megastructure Synapse Condenser and increased its computing power under Vetius's name.
• Activating the Condenser cut power to factories on Gamma World, prompting workers and engineers to curse the scientists.
• The Light Lance's barrel began searching for the optimal firing angle.

Professor Brown’s team used the Megastructure Synapse Condenser to calculate and fire a disguised long-range light lance at a Tau Empire military world. The first attack struck a transit hub, and a second beam lit up the planet’s atmosphere as the Tau tried to understand what had hit them.

• Professor Brown explained that the Megastructure Synapse Condenser could calculate particle trajectories and enable precise attacks across vast distances.
• Professor Brown ordered Xiao Ke to make the light lance’s beam green so Gamma World could frame the Orks.
• Gamma World drew energy from dark matter and fired a test shot, cutting power to factories across Karamat.
• The team fired a sustained second shot, which struck the Tau Empire’s Ikaven Asteroid Belt transit hub and destroyed a ship.
• Tau personnel raised the alarm as a green pillar of light tore through the planet’s atmosphere and filled the sky with glowing plasma.

A long-range lance strike devastated a Tau gateway world, while Tau forces blamed Gamma World and prepared to attack its fleet. The chapter ended with Brown leaving Karamat and Little Kris proposing an even larger weapon to improve the strike’s accuracy.

• Tau researchers detected a precise beam strike from more than twenty light-years away and identified the Dao'Is gateway world as its target.
• Tau security forces raided a Chaos-larvae cult on Dao'Is and found a signal device transmitting information into deep space.
• A lance strike erased a city on Dao'Is, caused widespread destruction, and sent a space station falling from orbit.
• Commander Angsi received reports of a suspected Gamma World strike and orders to destroy Gamma World's fleet, with Commander Farsight's fleet arriving behind it.
• Gamma World detected the Tau fleet's hostile preparations and readied its aircraft for battle.
• On Karamat, Little Kris discussed ways to improve the lance's accuracy, and Brown left him in charge before returning to Ozrax.

Gamma World’s expeditionary force invaded the Tau-held Hive World in the Koboi District while Commander Angsi assessed the attack and the world’s defenses. Idamas’s company entered the hive, hoping to recruit its humans, but Gamma World’s offer depended on who counted as human and whether they accepted humanity.

• Little Ke argued that Gamma World needed more resources for his research and told his staff to keep firing the experimental weapon before submitting a larger reimbursement claim.
• The battlefield AI reported to Commander Angsi that the Imperium of Man had invaded the Koboi District and was trying to seize the Tau fortress world.
• Angsi predicted that occupying the Hive World would burden the invaders with resistance and internal conflict, while his AI questioned whether his stance served the Greater Good.
• Xien rallied human and xenos auxiliaries to fight the arriving Imperium forces, believing the Tau had freed them from life in the hive.
• Idamas led his company into the Hive World, intending to negotiate with its humans and incorporate them into Gamma World if they met its definition of humanity.

Idamas forced Keynes and the lower hive to cooperate with Gamma World, which decided to seize the planet for its two billion people. Meanwhile, the Human Imperium fleet crossed Damocles Gulf, ending with a report that the holy relic had resonated.

• Idamas led more than three hundred enhanced soldiers into the lower hive to secure an agreement with Keynes before Governor Skaiqi arrived.
• Idamas’s soldiers killed the attackers blocking their way, stormed Keynes’s stronghold, and forced him to cooperate.
• Keynes gave Idamas information confirming that the lower hive held a large civilian population, and Idamas sent the population data to headquarters.
• Commander Skaiqi ordered his forces to take the planet, and Gamma World sent reinforcements as the Governor approached.
• The Human Imperium fleet crossed Damocles Gulf through space storms and Warp energies, and someone reported that the holy relic had resonated.

Fugerui guarded Sigismund’s Black Sword while Lieutenant Bernt and the Black Templars joined a fleet battle against the Tau Empire. The Imperium briefly regained aerial superiority, while its forces continued fighting to seize the Tau port planet.

• Fugerui watched over Sigismund’s Black Sword as Lieutenant Bernt and his squad departed aboard a Battle Barge.
• The Black Templars and White Scars confronted the Tau fleet, which shifted into an encirclement formation, and agreed to attack its flanks.
• Gell’s fellow pilots rammed their damaged fighters into Tau vessels, and Gell followed their example after an orbital cannon set his craft ablaze.
• A cruiser’s beam destroyed a cluster of Tau drone vessels, allowing Imperial ships to reclaim aerial superiority.
• An Armageddon Steel Legion soldier charged Kroot mercenaries and detonated the phosphex shells on his armor to buy the Imperial fleet time.

The Imperium’s forces advanced against the retreating Tau, while tensions among the Space Marine Chapters and warnings of danger went unheeded. Commander Shadowsun prepared the Ethereal Phase Ripper, a weapon deployed across the frontier that could devastate both sides as the Tau vowed to deny the Imperium any territory.

• Penal Legion soldiers drew enemy fire, then Lieutenant Bernt and the Black Templars descended from assault boats and attacked the Tau forces.
• A White Scars Space Marine warned that the Tau’s retreat and sparse fleet presence felt wrong, while the Red Scorpions ignored other Chapters and refused to cooperate with the Blood Ravens.
• Chief Librarian Morians sensed danger near a mountain and ordered Anders to warn the Red Scorpions, while the Iron Hands continued relying on battlefield calculations.
• Asterion Moloc dismissed the warnings and urged the Iron Hands to press the attack as the Tau kept retreating deeper into their territory.
• Commander Shadowsun took command from Commander Qingxi and prepared to use the Ethereal Phase Ripper, vowing that the Tau would destroy their own worlds rather than surrender territory.

The Imperium’s Chapters drove the Tau back across several fronts, with the White Scars using hit-and-run tactics to set up Black Templar assaults. As Imperial forces advanced, signs of a hidden Tau plan and growing tensions within the Iron Hands and Blood Ravens raised doubts about the easy victories.

• Commander Shadowsun learned that Imperial augmented warriors had begun massacring xenos across several planets.
• The White Scars harassed and outmaneuvered Tau ships, drawing them away before the Black Templars struck their command positions and crippled their fleet.
• The Red Scorpions swept through the Tau home system while Imperial fleets advanced across two sectors, making victory seem close.
• An Iron Father noticed anomalies in the war database but withheld his report from Kardan Stronos amid Iron Hands political divisions.
• Imperial observers noted that the Tau had not deployed several powerful weapons and that the Warp and electromagnetic storms in Damocles Gulf had unusually quieted.
• Chief Librarian Morians learned the Red Scorpions had injured Anders, then seized a high-ranking Tau warrior and used psychic power to search for answers.

As the Black Templars drove toward T'au and the Tau Empire faced invasions on several fronts, Shadowsun learned that Supreme Ethereal Aun'Va had been assassinated. She hid the news to protect morale and considered using the forbidden Ethereal Phase Ripper to strike the enemy, though she feared its danger.

• The Blood Ravens Librarian learned that Shadowsun's operatives were carrying out secret missions and transporting something onto the planet.
• The Black Templars bypassed the First Sphere Expansion worlds and advanced toward T'au, prompting Shadowsun to order their interception outside the Second Sphere.
• Shadowsun surveyed the Tau Empire's collapsing defenses and worried that no successor could match her or Farsight.
• Bit informed Shadowsun that Supreme Ethereal Aun'Va had been assassinated, and she ordered the information concealed.
• Shadowsun reassured the hopeful Tau that victory remained possible and considered using the forbidden Ethereal Phase Ripper to snipe the enemy.

Gamma World completed the evacuation of Koboi District’s humans and began destroying the abandoned hive world with a colossal heating structure. As the T’au fled the planet and Xien’s resistance realized the danger, the Governor arrived while sacred relics across distant war zones began to resonate.

• Xien and the resistance celebrated as Gamma World’s ships departed with the last human evacuees from Koboi District.
• Staff Officer Skaiqi Sidler ordered a planetary-grade matter decompression code for the abandoned hive world and learned that the Governor would arrive in three hours.
• Commander Angsi reviewed reports of human forces overrunning T’au worlds and discovered that a vast object was being transported from the front line.
• Gamma World dropped a city-sized structure onto the hive world and assembled it into a vast wall as the planet shook.
• The structure began heating the planet, the T’au abandoned the resistance, and Xien ordered his people to run.
• Cisrain returned with the Governor, while sacred relics aboard warships in Mugulath Bay and the Damocles Gulf began trembling in resonance.

Cisrain joined the escalating conflict between the Human and Tau Empires after a sudden event warned that Chaos would intervene and push the galaxy toward annihilation. He ordered Skaiqi to seize multiple Tau core worlds and set out with reinforcements for the Tau Empire’s first celestial defensive line.

• Cisrain reviewed Gamma World’s growing population, talent programs, and research while a World Decoder stripped resources from a planet.
• A sudden event revealed that one of the Four Gods had planted dangers and would trigger them early, promising rewards including a galactic star map, a Chaos Research Institute, and a neutron annihilation blueprint.
• Cisrain concluded that the Human and Chaos forces were competing for battlefield gains and ordered Skaiqi to capture at least two or three Tau core worlds and obtain a C’tan shard.
• Cisrain assembled an expeditionary force with Sigismund and Sidros, including Destroyers, troops, and modified combat mechs, despite his commanders’ concerns about the force’s size.
• The commanders gathered around projections of the Tau Empire, where Space Marine Chapters were attacking the first celestial defensive line, and Cisrain prepared to reach the battlefield.

Cisrain prepared to use the Ouroboros device for a temporary two-way Webway passage, while Skaiqi exploited the Tau Empire’s divisions to expand Gamma World’s invasion. As Orks and Flayed Ones struck the Tau from other fronts, Commander Shadowsun faced crises across the empire and chose to light a beacon that would usher in a new era.

• Cisrain assembled Sidros, Sigismund, Margo, and others to secure both ends of a temporary Webway passage for a swift decapitation operation.
• Skaiqi learned that the Tau Empire had launched indiscriminate strikes on regions containing its own people and used the attacks as propaganda to deepen divisions among Tau-aligned races.
• Skaiqi ordered Gamma World’s forces to accelerate their campaign and seize Kosi'Mai'En's home world as Tau reinforcements faltered.
• Orks returned to Tau-conquered worlds, attacking fleets and planets while gathering wreckage to build battle moons and war wagons.
• Flayed Ones emerged near Mugulath Bay, adding a Necron assault to the Tau Empire’s many crises.
• Commander Shadowsun received reports of invasions, Ork and Necron attacks, war with the Imperium, the Supreme Ethereal’s assassination, Chaos, and racial conflicts, then chose to light the beacon.

A Warp storm and a hidden Chaos ritual threatened Imperial forces across the Damocles Gulf. A Blood Raven Librarian sacrificed himself to seal one rift, but discovered countless more breaches were opening as the Warp descended upon the world.

• A many-armed Warp figure struck an Imperial Navy ship, destroyed its Gellar Field, and exposed its crew and hull to Chaos energy.
• A Blood Raven Librarian remembered that Tau Empire devices had opened a passage to the Warp and regained control of himself through the glow of his Terminator shoulder plate.
• The Librarian broke free of a Chaos sorcerer and used his body and soul to seal a rift, then saw that the Warp was riddled with countless other breaches.
• The Black Templars' relics began to resonate as spatial turbulence shook their battleship and an enemy attacked its chapel.
• The Red Scorpions captured Dicarat after devastating its population, while their fleet and the Astra Militarum ships following them vanished during Warp travel.
• The Morians Chief Librarian discovered that widespread death and emotion had stirred a Warp storm, and that Chaos had trapped the world as the Warp began to descend.

Morians and the remaining Fifth Company Librarians raced to reach the battlefield before Chaos completed its plan, while the war around Is III fed the Warp storm and drew daemons into reality. As fleets struggled to respond and Commander Shadowsun pursued a desperate strategy, a rift opened across space and Izakros prepared to send an expedition through it.

• Morians sensed through the Iron Halo that the battlefield had not yet been completely torn apart, and he and the two remaining Fifth Company Librarians set out to stop the final battle.
• Gray-white Space Marines crossed a Warp passage and searched battlefields for their target, while Chaos-tainted Warp rifts drew daemons onto Is III.
• Black Templars, Astra Militarum troops, and Tau forces fought fiercely on Is III as their violence and emotions intensified the Warp storm.
• Kardan Stronos ordered the Lords of Iron from the Ten Clans to mobilize after Imperial ships encountered Chaos creatures and communications failed in the Warp.
• Commander Shadowsun ordered fleets to defend T'en, ambush the Imperial fleet near Is III, and attack its supply worlds, then received a warning about a growing rift in space.
• A fragment of the Ouroboros activated at Izakros, and its expeditionary troops prepared to cross the brief passage and guard it.

Cisrain left a force guarding the Webway entrance on Gamma World and led Destroyer warriors through it, while Val planned a cautious revenge against him. As Cisrain rushed toward the battle above Is III, a growing Warp rift tore through reality and drew alarm across the Imperium.

• Cisrain entrusted the Webway entrance on Gamma World to elite Silver-White Armor warriors and entered the Webway with several hundred Destroyer warriors.
• Val refused to report the Webway's reopening to Witch King Malekith and ordered assassins to check whether Cisrain was present before attempting revenge.
• Gamma World's defenders prepared to hold the passage until Cisrain returned and warned one another to keep anyone from approaching it.
• Cisrain raced toward the battle above Is III as Imperial ships exchanged fire in space.
• A Warp rift spread toward the human fleet, alarming its naval commander and Astartes Chapter.
• An Astropath screamed that the rift had appeared in the Kaladon Sector, and a psyker near Cadia sensed it as well.

A massive Warp rift engulfed the Is III region, mutating humans, T'au, and machines as Morians and the Blood Ravens tried to reach the Ethereal Phase Ripper. The Grey Knights revealed that Chaos was birthing a new domain, and Aun'Va realized the Chaos God she had bargained with had deceived her.

• A Chaos rift swallowed four T'au core worlds and cut off Is III and the surrounding fleets from contact.
• Morians and the surviving Blood Raven Librarians landed on Is III, where extreme Warp energy caused grotesque mutations and drove combatants mad.
• Morians's group searched for the Ethereal Phase Ripper while defending themselves from both T'au and Space Marines who mistook them for traitors.
• Theodosius regained his senses and agreed to help the wounded Librarian reach the device and destroy it.
• The Grey Knights identified the catastrophe as the birth of a new Chaos domain rather than an ordinary Great Rift.
• Aun'Va realized that the Chaos God who had promised to open a breach had instead arranged for a new Chaos domain to be born.

Aun'Va realized the Chaos Gods had deceived her and were using the Tau Empire to gestate a new Chaos realm, while The Emperor judged the threat manageable. On the battlefield, Lorne and the Grey Knights joined the Blood Ravens and other Chapters, learning they had to destroy the realm's anchor or its planetary overload device before the Chaos Eye opened.

• Aun'Va tried and failed to cut open the Warp womb, then revealed to her chosen that the Chaos Gods planned to transform everyone inside it into Chaos.
• The Emperor concluded that the dimensional gestation showed the Four Gods lacked another way to stop him, and chose not to kill Aun'Va because the Tau could serve as a front against Chaos.
• The Emperor identified the gestation's requirements: a planetary-scale Blackstone overload, more than ninety billion souls, a Chaos Chosen as an anchor, and a remnant zone of the Old Ones' Webway.
• Lorne led nine Grey Knights to the battlefield, where they found time fractured and several Space Marine Chapters mutating under Chaos influence.
• Morians and the Blood Raven Librarians used their psychic power to explain that the battlefield contained a gestating Chaos realm and that its anchor or overload device had to be destroyed.
• A Blood Raven Librarian volunteered to awaken the remaining fighters, while Morians urged the Chapters to form a squad and seize the world from the Warp.

Theodosius and the other awakened Space Marines agreed to fight alongside Morians while the Grey Knights began a ritual to stop Chaos’s descent. The force split between holding back the enemy and reaching the Aether Phase Ripper, where they found a Chaos Chosen waiting.

• Theodosius agreed to cooperate with Morians, and the White Scars and Red Scorpions joined the effort despite their distrust of the Blood Ravens.
• Mayne killed T'au who tried to contact the humans, while the battlefield behind the group fell back into fighting under Chaos’s influence.
• The Grey Knights descended into the fissure and began inscribing holy marks for a ritual, but they were one psyker short and needed ten minutes to finish.
• Morians ordered Dol to hold back the attackers while the others advanced to destroy the Aether Phase Ripper.
• The group reached the device as Chaos forces poured down the fissures, and a Chaos Chosen rose to confront them.