Recaps

Dorn learned that Fulgrim’s soul could only be restored by reclaiming its fragments from Slaanesh, now an ally of the Imperium. After a brief private retreat to process the revelation, Dorn accepted the plan and agreed to wait until they reached West Fomalhaut.

• Dorn met his brothers and Lin Fan as they gathered around the unsealed Daemon Prince Fulgrim, while Trazyn assessed the corruption of his soul.
• Fabius explained that Fulgrim had gone mad after Slaanesh’s attention waned and that restoring him required recovering his soul fragments from Slaanesh.
• Perturabo told Dorn that Slaanesh had become the Emperor’s ally, and Dorn left for a soundproof room to process the news.
• Dorn returned and agreed that the group would seek Fulgrim’s soul once they reached West Fomalhaut.
• Jaghatai and Fulgrim praised Lin Fan’s proposed name Big Canteen, while Jaghatai mocked Lin Fan’s other food-inspired names.

Rogal Dorn asked Lin Fan why the primarchs had rebelled, and Lin Fan’s answer inspired him to launch a new crusade from the edge of the galaxy toward Terra. As the fleet departed the Ghoul Stars, its allies parted ways, while the Lamenters continued onward with the crusade.

• Rogal Dorn asked Lin Fan why his brothers had rebelled, and Lin Fan replied that things would be different because he was there.
• Rogal Dorn proposed a new crusade from the edge of the galaxy to Terra, and Lin Fan joked that it sounded like another Horus Heresy.
• Trazyn secretly recorded their conversation for his museum’s Second Great Crusade exhibition.
• At the Ghoul Stars, the Carcharodons, Ashen Claws, and Order of the Bloody Rose stayed behind, while Celes declined to leave with her sisters.
• Perturabo told Tyberos to take over his forge on Hovens IV, and Jaghatai promised Nethanev that he would restore the Ashen Claws’ honor.
• Lin Fan offered Nethanev a bottle of aged broth as a keepsake, and Chapter Master Hope recorded that the Lamenters had left their misfortune and discrimination behind.

Yvraine arranged for Craftworld Aeldari to gather the scattered Aeldari, while the Imperium faced ordinary uprisings during a rare calm in the Warp. At the Golden Throne, Slaanesh presented a scripture, and the God-Emperor and The Emperor discussed Tzeentch’s plans and the Orks’ ability to disrupt them.

• Yvraine told Biel-Tan's young king to settle the people before considering gathering the five Croneswords, and planned for Alaitoc and Iyanden's Craftworld Aeldari to summon the Aeldari to Lin Fan's star system.
• The Warp grew calmer as uprisings spread across Imperial worlds, and Inquisitors disagreed over whether the rebellions were tainted by Chaos.
• Slaanesh recited her scripture, The Emperor's Flame Sword, to the God-Emperor, who rejected it along with The Emperor.
• The Emperor read Tzeentch's Path of Hope, and the God-Emperor questioned what Tzeentch had gained from his actions.
• The Emperor said the Orks could disrupt Tzeentch's plans, and the God-Emperor told him to do as he pleased while maintaining the Astronomican.

Yarrick struggled with the peace of retirement on Haiwendland as his memories of war returned, while Ironhide led an Ork Waaagh onward in search of greater battles. The Orks reached Yarrick’s world, and Yarrick prepared to fight them with the Armageddon Steel Legion.

• Yarrick tried to overcome his discomfort with peaceful life on Haiwendland and was shaken by memories of Hades Hive.
• Yarrick saw the Imperial Aquila statue sway and wondered whether the Emperor was giving him a revelation.
• Ironhide demonstrated his electrified axe, praised Ork technological progress, and rallied his forces to continue fighting.
• Ironhide’s Orks destroyed a planet and propelled its fragments onward with their fleet.
• Yarrick raised his power claw as the Armageddon Steel Legion prepared to stop the arriving Orks, while Domisilon wondered how many would die.

Rokasna learned that Tzeentch considered the recent events a major victory and welcomed Vect as a new ally while preparing to approach the Dark Mechanicum. Meanwhile, The Deceiver explained that the Necrontyr had suppressed thought to restrain the C'tan, then sent Amalaga fleeing toward the Big Canteen Galaxy as an unrecorded being drew near.

• Rokasna apologized to Tzeentch for failing to recover his debt, but Tzeentch told him the outcome had been a huge win.
• Tzeentch introduced Vect as a new colleague, declared himself the Black Muse, and ordered his followers to bring him the Dark Mechanicum.
• The Deceiver explained to Amalaga that thought was the C'tan's greatest weapon and that the Necrontyr had constrained them by suppressing thought and matter.
• Amalaga used the True Word 'Attach' on a piece of Hate Flesh, and The Deceiver rescued him with his dice before releasing the Dark Angels fleet.
• The Deceiver took Amalaga beyond the Milky Way and sent him toward the Big Canteen Galaxy, fleeing as an unrecorded being approached.

Lin Fan and the others returned to the Big Canteen system, where Perturabo marveled at its advanced shipyards and stellar energy infrastructure. They reunited with Delia and Yilafren, then learned that Space Marines had damaged the complex and disturbed Oedmeir.

• Rebecca connected to the Executioner Dynasty's communications network and told Lin Fan that Oedmeir was irritable after being woken by intruders.
• Perturabo admired the orbital shipyard's advanced warship factories and the systems that harnessed stellar storms to power the planets.
• Lin Fan explained that the T'au on the Big Canteen planet were allies who accepted Imperial administration and believed in the Emperor.
• Delia hugged Lin Fan and asked whether she had helped him, while Yilafren joined them and provoked Delia into aiming a plasma gun at her.
• Oedmeir arrived and said Space Marines had threatened to execute her, damaged the complex, and disturbed her sleep.
• Perturabo angrily vowed to make the Space Marines repent.

Dorn confronted Oedmeir about the Black Templars’ destruction and then entered their prison to face his sons. He stopped their assault, but Helbrecht’s fanatical welcome quickly provoked him into knocking the marshal unconscious.

• Perturabo read the report of the Black Templars’ attacks, and Dorn apologized as Oedmeir recounted their destruction and insults.
• Dorn followed Oedmeir to the prison, where his sons cursed her and denounced her as a witch and xenos.
• Helbrecht and the Black Templars were released from their restraints and charged at Oedmeir, enraged by the holy icon she displayed.
• Dorn ordered the Black Templars to stop, and his gene-sons trembled and knelt as he approached.
• Helbrecht recognized Dorn and demanded to lead a slaughter, so Dorn knocked him unconscious and then struck him awake.

Oedmeir expanded Lin Fan’s regional government by winning over the Adeptus Mechanicus and Inquisition, establishing trade with the T'au, and upgrading the military. She described the region’s resource shortages and current weapons program, while the size of the upgraded 37th Regiment remained unanswered.

• Oedmeir defeated the Adeptus Mechanicus Archmagi in a contest of knowledge and dismantled and reassembled their Titan Legion, convincing them to follow her instructions.
• Oedmeir used Lin Fan’s holy icon to secure a secret Loyalty treaty with the Inquisition, then brought the remaining Imperial departments under regional control.
• Oedmeir met Farsight and Shadowsun, upgraded T'au ship engines, and gave them ship structure blueprints to support trade.
• Oedmeir told Lin Fan and Perturabo that depleted resources limited development and that she had sent warships to escort merchant convoys.
• Oedmeir displayed new weapons, including rapid-fire plasma rifles, Volkite Guns, gravity guns, improved bolters, and an upgraded Flying Little Chapel.
• Oedmeir said the 37th Regiment had received full weapon and armor upgrades, but directed Perturabo to ask Delia how many soldiers it had.

Oedmeir arranged a virtual war between the 37th Regiment’s new combat battalion and the Lamenters Chapter to test the regiment’s combat ability. The exercise began on a simulated hive-city battlefield, where both forces established their positions and prepared to fight.

• Lin Fan suggested that the 37th Regiment test its recruits against the Lamenters, and Oedmeir agreed to hold a real-combat exercise.
• Oedmeir brought the 37th Regiment and the Lamenters to Thirteen-Spice’s training grounds, where 100,000 soldiers faced 2,000 Space Marines.
• Oedmeir activated a virtual battlefield and disguised both sides as opposing forces, then told them to fight without concern for casualties.
• Hope ordered the Lamenters to scout the hive city and gather intelligence before choosing their next move.
• The 37th Regiment’s soldiers established a command post, built concealed fortifications, and set up defenses against electronic scans and Warp sorcery.

The combat battalion used augur satellites to track Hope’s forces, while the Lamenters tried to destroy the reconnaissance equipment and lost two Space Marines in the missile barrage. The battle then spread through the hive city ruins, where Stone and his squad held behind Portable Aegis Walls as the Space Marines attacked.

• The battalion launched an augur satellite, and Hope spotted it and ordered his troops to keep advancing through the hive city ruins.
• The Lamenters destroyed the satellite with a Javelin Attack Speeder, but a replacement satellite rose as the battalion launched missiles at the speeder and destroyed it, killing two Space Marines.
• Hope split his two-thousand-man force into companies and ten-man squads as the Space Marines began firing on troops moving through the ruins.
• Stone survived a bolt strike with his Personal Aegis and reflected on how Oedmeir’s teachings had made him feel closer to Oedmeir than to the Emperor.
• The engineers deployed Portable Aegis Walls to block heavy bolter fire, while Stone and the heavy weapons team prepared to return fire with volkite guns and a rapid-fire ion cannon.

The Lamenters fought Stone’s company, whose Aegis shields and heavy weapons inflicted unexpected casualties before the Space Marines broke through and wiped out the defenders. Hope led the surviving Lamenters deeper into the hive city, still confident that the soldiers could not match them in close combat.

• The Lamenters used plasma and ion fire against Stone’s company, while armor-piercing harpoons eventually pierced the soldiers’ Aegis shields.
• Stone watched comrades die, then fired back at the Lamenters as jump-pack assault troops attacked his position.
• The Lamenters eliminated the mortal traitors in less than a minute, losing five brothers in the brief fight.
• Hope and the Destroyer squad captain blamed the Aegis shields for the Lamenters’ casualties, and Hope led the force farther into the hive city.

Hope led two thousand Space Marines in an assault on the hive city's drop zone while twenty Lamenters veterans attacked the enemy command post. The Marines broke through and killed the defenders, but suffered heavy losses, and Hope wondered about the green lightning that had destroyed their Land Raiders.

• The Lamenters veterans launched a decapitation strike on the combat battalion's command post, but its trained soldiers continued fighting under orders from high command.
• The veterans fought through Aegis barriers and XVE-39 battlesuits, destroying eighty suits and killing 2,400 soldiers before the entire twenty-man squad was wiped out.
• Hope led the main assault, and his Space Marines broke through the drop zone's defenses and slaughtered all twenty thousand defenders.
• A Techmarine told Hope that five Dreadnoughts, two Land Raiders, and more than five hundred battle-brothers had been lost, with little gene-seed recoverable.
• Hope examined the wrecked Land Raiders and recalled that green lightning, rather than the other weapons, had brought them down.

After the Lamenters defeated the combat battalion in the hive city, Oedmeir defended arming ordinary forces and criticized the Imperium’s oppressive governance. The commanders tested the battalion on open plains, where its Aegis defenses pinned down the Lamenters, while Rogal Dorn raised concerns about Space Marine supremacy and another Heresy.

• Rogal Dorn worried that giving ordinary people powerful weapons could make rebellions harder for Space Marines to suppress, and Oedmeir argued that helpless civilians faced an even greater danger.
• Oedmeir replayed the memory of an Adeptus Arbites chief killing a starving laborer, then said the Imperium’s social failures made rebellion a consequence of its rule.
• Oedmeir said the 37th Regiment would replace ineffective officials and govern worlds with the T’au Water Caste, while Lin Fan learned Commissar Cain was teaching the T’au common sense.
• The Lamenters won the virtual battle, annihilating the 100,000-man combat battalion at the cost of 900 casualties, after using hive-city terrain to infiltrate and overwhelm its positions.
• Perturabo arranged for the combat battalion to fight the Lamenters on open plains, where its Aegis defenses and heavy weapons forced the Space Marines to advance under fire.
• Jaghatai, Fulgrim, and Perturabo discussed restoring the Great Crusade’s division of military roles, while Rogal Dorn warned of renewed Astartes supremacy and Lin Fan dismissed fears of another Horus Heresy.

Oedmeir outlined reforms to build a stable alliance among the Imperium, T'au, and Aeldari, while Lin Fan was sent to discuss cooperation with the Aeldari. In Biel-Tan, Yvraine revealed the terrible cost of awakening Ynnead and asked Lin Fan about an alternative called the Seventh Path.

• Oedmeir criticized Space Marine arrogance and proposed stricter recruitment and reforms so Chapters could fight alongside the Astra Militarum.
• Oedmeir assigned the T'au a larger role in trade and proposed that the Aeldari supplement interstellar communications and share psychic and Webway knowledge.
• The Primarchs accepted Oedmeir's proposal, and she sent Lin Fan to discuss cooperation with the Aeldari.
• Yvraine told Biel-Tan's Seer Council that awakening Ynnead to destroy Slaanesh required the deaths of ninety-nine percent of the Aeldari.
• Yvraine revealed that Lin Fan had named a possible alternative the Seventh Path, but he told her he knew nothing more and advised her to ask Ynnead.

Lin Fan asked the Aeldari to select volunteers to serve as messengers and liaisons on other worlds, and the Seers agreed. As two sisters considered leaving the Craftworld, Lin Fan asked Slaanesh whether the Aeldari still needed the Paths, and Slaanesh warned that their souls would remain vulnerable if they fully released their emotions.

• Lin Fan described Oedmeir's proposal, and the Aeldari Seers agreed to select volunteers from the Craftworld.
• The Seer Council's divinations failed to reveal Lin Fan, leaving the Seers unable to follow their prophecies about the Imperium.
• An Aeldari botanist decided to apply for the Path of the Outcast and asked her younger sister to leave the Craftworld with her.
• The younger sister declined to join her, and submitted an application to the Seer Council.
• Lin Fan asked Slaanesh whether the Aeldari still needed the Paths, and Slaanesh said it could not protect their souls if they fully released their emotions.

Lin Fan learned that Slaanesh could not protect every Aeldari soul in the Warp, but Slaanesh rescued Yawens when she entered it. Yawens and Anya stayed with the astropaths while Lin Fan left for a meeting.

• Slaanesh told Lin Fan that some Aeldari souls could escape her reach, and Lin Fan warned that he would tell Yvraine and the others to be careful.
• Lin Fan tore Slaanesh apart to soothe her, and Slaanesh later watched the Golden Throne and reflected on why she wanted the Aeldari to remain under Lin Fan's control.
• Slaanesh sensed Yawens's soul entering the Warp, drove off nearby demons, and sent Yawens safely back to the material world.
• Yawens told Lin Fan that Slaanesh had protected her soul, and Lin Fan concluded that the Aeldari Path system should remain in place.
• Lin Fan left Yawens and Anya with the astropaths and Krieg guards to attend a meeting, while Anya asked the astropaths to tell her their stories.

Anya and Yawens listened as an Astropath described the hardships of his life and the Soul-Binding ritual, then Anya began teaching the Astropaths. Meanwhile, Jaghatai Khan struggled through administrative paperwork after Perturabo’s wager put the Primarchs and Space Marines in charge of the government for a month.

• An Astropath recounted being taken by the Black Ships, trained for service, and blinded during the Soul-Binding ritual.
• Yawens questioned why the Astropaths faced the Warp without fear, and they explained that they accepted death and sacrifice for humanity’s survival.
• Anya, shocked by their devotion, made a Wraithbone rune and proposed that they begin learning.
• Jaghatai Khan continued processing piles of government documents and blamed Perturabo and Rogal Dorn for the wager that had led to his paperwork duty.
• Jaghatai recalled that Oedmeir had appointed Primarchs and Space Marines to replace administrative officials for a month, after Perturabo proposed the trial.

Oedmeir gathered Jaghatai, Perturabo, and Rogal Dorn to reveal research results after Fulgrim reunited with his soul and returned to his brothers. She explained her theory that Gene-seed acted like a vaccine against Chaos corruption, leaving the primarchs to consider the idea.

• Oedmeir summoned Jaghatai to the underground laboratory, where Perturabo and Rogal Dorn soon joined him after enduring piles of paperwork.
• Oedmeir revealed that Fulgrim had reunited with his soul, and Fulgrim embraced Perturabo as his brothers welcomed him back.
• Oedmeir presented Fabius's research and explained that Gene-seed might help Space Marines resist Chaos corruption like cowpox inoculation protects against smallpox.
• Perturabo grasped the analogy and suggested that Gene-seed implantation mildly corrupted Space Marines in advance, earning Oedmeir's approving praise.

Oedmeir presented a Warp-contamination inoculation made from the Kabbalah Tree of Life, then revealed an Inquisition proposal to protect planets with Martyr’s Bastions powered by imprisoned Sisters of Silence. The Primarchs recoiled at the proposal’s brutality, leaving Oedmeir’s vaccine as the less horrifying alternative.

• Oedmeir explained how existing Warp contamination might help Space Marines resist further corruption and proposed inoculating ordinary people against it.
• Oedmeir revealed the Kabbalah Tree of Life on Spicy and offered its dew as a vaccine, asking the Primarchs to volunteer for the first dose.
• Oedmeir showed the Primarchs an Inquisition letter proposing Martyr’s Bastions built around living Sisters of Silence to shield planets from Warp attacks.
• The Primarchs imagined the sisters being mutilated and chained into shrines and war machines, and their furious reactions made the Grey Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus hide their own grim devices.

Oedmeir and the Primarchs recoiled at how the Imperium turned its faithful into living weapons, then chose a war-torn world to test the vaccine rather than surrender their humanity. The Lodeyun Civilized World’s history showed how the Imperium’s wars and Space Marine intervention had devastated its people while officials cared only about restoring taxes and production.

• Rogal Dorn used the Canoness chained to his armor to withstand the Lord of Change’s sorcery, then snapped the daemon’s neck and praised her devotion.
• Jaghatai, Rogal Dorn, Fulgrim, and Perturabo discussed the horrifying sacrifices the Imperium’s faithful might make, while Oedmeir said such practices were achievable.
• Oedmeir proposed testing the vaccine on a world engulfed in war, and Biel-Tan’s seers identified the Lodeyun Civilized World.
• The two governors of Lodeyun’s hive cities fought for control, while Imperial authorities ignored the civil war so long as taxes and production continued.
• The Departmento Munitorum sent the Flesh Tearers and Crimson Angels to end the Stromark Incident, and their attacks killed billions and devastated both planets.

A desperate underhive fighter gained strength from a being in the void and rose to fame in underground blood fights while supporting his family. Meanwhile, Oedmeir’s vaccine fleet reached the Lodeyun system, and she planned a tiered trade network that accounted for the Webway’s dangerous condition.

• Administratum officials classified Stromark’s population losses as a minor production setback, while the governors kept Lodeyun’s war from affecting its tithe.
• A young man prayed for food and medicine for his sick mother and hungry sister, and a being in the void showed him underground blood fights and strengthened his arms.
• The young man won brutal matches, earned money to support his family, and demanded greater pay from the arena owner, who sent armed slaves to drive him away.
• Oedmeir’s vaccine fleet reached the edge of the Lodeyun system after two weeks of travel through the Warp and the damaged Webway.
• Oedmeir proposed dividing trade into high-speed Aeldari Webway routes, joint Webway-and-Warp express fleets, and slower T'au Warp-only trade fleets.

A mixed force led by the 37th Regiment, Space Marines, Aeldari, and T'au attacked a hive world overrun by the Blood Army and Khorne's daemons. After a week of fighting, Lin Fan confronted the final Khorne champion and granted him release.

• Aeldari warriors disabled the anti-air guns, allowing Space Marines and the 37th Regiment to land and breach the hive gates with chapel arc bombardments.
• T'au and Imperial forces overwhelmed the Blood Army's defenses, while volkite fire destroyed blood-mist-charged attackers.
• Blood arenas summoned brass bull daemons, which the chapels defeated by piercing them with spires and expelling their daemons with Gellar Fields.
• The 37th Regiment spent a week advancing through the hive, purging cultists and searching for survivors as Earth Caste drones rebuilt the ruins.
• Space Marines and Aeldari Rangers found Khorne's final shrine, where Lin Fan asked its champion about his family and saw the skulls of his mother and sister.
• The champion's remaining reason returned as he wept, and Lin Fan granted him release.

Oedmeir oversaw the planet’s reconstruction and challenged its nobles and officials when they demanded special privileges over ordinary citizens. The nobles accepted her offer of palaces, unaware that the Earth Caste technicians were being directed to Area A-10, while young officials who opposed them were sent to train with the Krieg instructors.

• Perturabo urged a brutal punishment for the remaining governor, but Oedmeir insisted that he be sentenced according to law and hinted that his execution could be harsher.
• Earth Caste technicians began removing toxins from the planet, while Rogal Dorn sent the Black Templars to protect them and clear mutant monsters from the hive city.
• Nobles and officials protested equal housing for citizens, and Oedmeir asked whether the group shared their demand for better treatment.
• Several young officials objected to the nobles’ demands, but Minister Sike intimidated them into silence.
• Oedmeir gave the nobles a card for Area A-10 and sent the young officials to study under the Krieg instructors.
• An Earth Caste technician was stunned when the nobles presented the card and requested palaces and villas.

Oedmeir arranged an extreme test of the Cabal Life Vaccine by exposing a vaccinated planet to Slaanesh’s strongest corruption, while also planning an Aeldari communications experiment. As Slaanesh overwhelmed the world, the God-Emperor watched and hoped the vaccine would work, seeing it as the galaxy’s last chance to break Chaos’s cycle.

• Three months after the planet was restored, Oedmeir prepared experiments to test the vaccine and a new Aeldari communications department.
• Oedmeir revealed that she had given the nobles a powerful hallucinogen, and Slaanesh’s corruption spread across the planet.
• Slaanesh manifested through the Palace of Lust and approached Lin Fan as the Primarchs and others struggled against her influence.
• Oedmeir said the vaccine had to be tested under the most extreme conditions, and Lin Fan told Slaanesh to unleash her strongest winds of indulgence.
• Slaanesh’s music and dance spread across the planet, while the God-Emperor watched and hoped the vaccinated residents would resist corruption.

Slaanesh ended a carefully restrained, sixty-six-day corruption of the planet to test Oedmeir’s vaccine, and the God-Emperor waited for the results despite his guilt over the casualties. Slaanesh judged the vaccine highly effective, while Perturabo and Rogal Dorn questioned her about the test data.

• Slaanesh recalled her daemons and withdrew her corruption, restoring the planet after sixty-six days of indulgence.
• The God-Emperor struggled with guilt over the people who died during the test but waited on the throne for the results.
• Oedmeir said the vaccine could enter mass production if the planet’s condition was acceptable.
• Slaanesh reported that the vaccine worked well and described how corruption affected the surviving population.
• Perturabo asked for specific data, and Dorn questioned what Slaanesh meant by people forming connections.
• Perturabo explained the phrase to Dorn, who suggested a more precise term, making Fulgrim uneasy.