Recaps

Lin En used waves of explosive iron-box ships to hold back Kraken’s Tyranid fleet while the Lamenters and Guard provided fire support. As the battle became a war of attrition, he reflected on how unstoppable the Imperium might be if the Men of Iron had never been banned.

• Lin En launched 250 autonomous iron-box ships, which fired on Tyranid Bio-ships and detonated themselves against them.
• More iron-box ships continuously replaced the destroyed drones, trading cheaply for Bio-ships and burning their biomass.
• The Lamenters and the mortal Guard Army fired from behind the drone line, targeting larger Bio-ships and supporting the defense.
• Lin En watched the battle aboard the Night Goddess and considered how machine armies could let humanity overwhelm most of the galaxy in a war of attrition.

Lin En’s fleet devastated the Kraken fleet with a day of suicide attacks, but dwindling drones and exhausted production forced him to order Bolomite’s workers into shelter. Iron Hammer sent the final batch of Iron Boxes to orbit, while the workers refused to leave the factories until the last transport departed.

• Lin En’s Iron Box drones destroyed nearly half the Kraken fleet, though fewer than two thousand remained and Bolomite’s production was nearing collapse.
• Lin En ordered the fleet to prepare, the Industrial Zone to stop production and evacuate, and the Flesh Tearers and Blood Knights to ready their ground defenses.
• Iron Hammer received Lin En’s order to shut down the furnaces and send the workers to the Underground Bunker, but insisted on finishing the last batch of Iron Boxes.
• Iron Hammer ordered the workers to load explosives onto the final Iron Boxes and send them into orbit before the Industrial Zone shut down.
• The workers watched the last transport truck leave, but stayed gathered outside the factories as Iron Hammer urged them to take cover.

As Kraken’s Tyranid fleet overwhelmed the dwindling Iron Boxes, Lin En authorized Phoros and the Lamenters to lead the charge. He completed the Innumerable Enemy Kills achievement and began its guaranteed gold draw, whose result had not yet appeared.

• Lin En watched the Iron Boxes dwindle and granted Phoros permission to lead the Lamenters’ charge against the Tyranids.
• The Lamenters’ Battle Barge and two escort frigates advanced as the final Iron Boxes and the Lamenters’ gunships moved to intercept Kraken.
• Lin En received the Innumerable Enemy Kills achievement after the system explained that Kraken was the last surviving major Tyranid fleet.
• Lin En questioned the system’s guaranteed gold draw, then chose to draw a trait.
• A gold-and-multicolored Trait Roulette appeared and spun into a glowing galaxy.

Lin En gained Swarm Domination, a trait that let him sever Tyranids from the Hive Consciousness and control them with his psychic power. He used it with Psychic Overload to throw the Kraken fleet into chaos, then stopped Phoros from turning the feat into worship.

• Lin En obtained Swarm Domination and realized his psychic traits formed a set that could let him command millions of Tyranids.
• The system told Lin En that his current psychic power could control about 2.4 million Tyranids, or ten million with Psychic Overload.
• Lin En stopped Phoros and the Lamenters from charging the Tyranid formation, then equipped Psychic Overload and Swarm Domination.
• Lin En combined the traits to block the Hive Consciousness, severing the Kraken fleet's connection to the Great Devourer and leaving the swarm disoriented.
• Phoros praised Lin En's radiance, and Lin En cut in to stop him from worshipping him.

The multicolored canopy killed the Kraken Hive Overlord, severed the swarm from the Hive Consciousness, and took control of most of its Bio-ships. As the Tyranids devoured one another, Phoros ordered the Lamenters to remember the display and keep a pious account of their lord’s power.

• The canopy blocked the Hive Overlord’s signals, compressed and destroyed his psychic nodes, and severed the Kraken fleet’s connection to the great devourer.
• The multicolored light connected to the Kraken Bio-ships’ psychic nodes and restored their orders under its control.
• The Bio-ships turned on their own kind, and more than a thousand Tyranid vessels began devouring one another.
• Phoros’s deputy questioned how the Tyranids could obey their lord, and Phoros claimed they had accepted him as their king.
• Phoros told the Lamenters to remember the day and forbade rumors that contradicted the story that their lord’s radiance had purified the Tyranids.

Lin En used the Sky Curtain to control and evolve the Kraken Bio-ships, turning them into obedient pets that assembled before the Night Goddess. The Great Devourer then roared across the galaxy, accusing an unknown thief, and Inquisitor Van Del ordered an investigation.

• Lin En controlled the Tyranid Bio-ships with the Sky Curtain and watched one carrier evolve after devouring a Spore Carrier.
• The evolved Bio-ships gathered before the Night Goddess, and Lin En dismissed the Lamenters' fears about the Inquisition.
• The Great Devourer sent an angry psychic roar across the galaxy, calling someone a thief.
• The Emperor, the Fabricator-General, Calgar, Dante, and Inquisitor Van Del each sensed the roar and reacted to it.
• Van Del ordered the Inquisition to investigate the Great Devourer's unusual activity.

Lin En used Indomitable Will to prevent the Great Devourer from reclaiming its stolen Kraken fleet, then ordered the controlled Tyranids to devour the rest. He renamed the surviving, vastly enlarged ships the Purple Carapace Chapter and stationed them near Bolomite.

• The Great Devourer’s furious psychic signal reached Psykers, Navigators, Librarians, Aeldari Farseers, Drukhari, and daemons across the galaxy, alarming them about a thief.
• The Great Devourer tried to restore its connection to the Kraken fleet and command its warrior organisms to return.
• Lin En resisted the Hive Consciousness’s signal by casting Indomitable Will on the Tyranids under his control.
• Lin En ordered his controlled swarm to devour the uncontrolled Bio-ships, while the Great Devourer watched helplessly.
• Lin En named the surviving Kraken ships the Purple Carapace Chapter and stationed them on a barren planet near Bolomite.

Lin En stationed twelve Tyranid motherships and numerous smaller Bio-ships on a barren planet, declaring them the Purple Carapace Chapter, a loyal Imperial auxiliary force. After Iron Hammer protested, Inquisitor Van Del reported Lin En’s control of the Tyranids to Inquisition headquarters on Terra.

• Lin En ordered the Lamenters to feed the Tyranid Bio-ships battlefield remains and keep them from starving or reproducing.
• Lin En told a communications soldier to register the Bio-ships as the Purple Carapace Chapter, a loyal Imperial auxiliary force stationed on the barren planet.
• Iron Hammer challenged Lin En over the Tyranid motherships, but Lin En insisted they were loyal auxiliaries and ended the call.
• Inquisitor Van Del read a report about the Bio-ships and, despite his deputy’s warning, contacted Inquisition headquarters on Terra.
• Van Del told the Terra communications officer that twelve mothership-class Bio-ships had appeared in his jurisdiction and were registered as Imperial auxiliaries.

An urgent report reached Inquisition headquarters claiming that the Emperor’s special envoy, Lin En, controlled a Tyranid fleet in the Bolomite system. The three Lord Inquisitors verified the report with orbital footage and gathered to decide how to respond.

• A duty Inquisitor discovered the report about Lin En controlling Tyranids and rushed it through the Inquisition’s chain of command.
• The deputy read the report, questioned whether it was genuine, then carried it to his superior.
• The three Lord Inquisitors convened an emergency meeting and read identical reports stating that the Emperor’s special envoy controlled the Tyranids.
• One Lord Inquisitor objected that humans could not control Tyranids, while another confirmed that Van Del had seen the Bio-ships in Bolomite.
• The Lord Inquisitors watched orbital footage of twelve Tyranid motherships and their escorts sprawled across a barren planet, then turned to voting on how to handle the incident.

The Inquisition debated whether Lin En, the Imperial Envoy, had truly gained control of Tyranids and whether he posed a threat to the Imperium. After factions argued over investigating or arresting him, a Lord Inquisitor showed the assembled leaders the transmission from the planet outside Bolomite, leaving them to confront what Lin En might be.

• Three Lord Inquisitors questioned whether they could investigate Lin En without challenging the Emperor's authority, and feared that his control of Tyranids might point to a power greater than the Great Devourer.
• News of a human controlling Tyranids spread through the Inquisition, dividing radicals who demanded Lin En be studied from conservatives who warned against provoking him.
• The Inquisition convened its senior leaders, where the Ordo Xenos chief demanded an investigation and the Daemon Inquisition and Ordo Hereticus chiefs argued that arresting Lin En was too dangerous.
• A Lord Inquisitor projected the transmission from the barren planet outside Bolomite, silencing the debate as the assembled Inquisitors confronted the evidence.

The Inquisition debated whether to arrest Emperor’s envoy Lin En after learning he controlled Tyranids, but a Lord Inquisitor warned that arresting him could pit them against powerful Imperial figures. The Inquisitors agreed they had to investigate the unprecedented event, though Lin En’s status left them unsure how to act.

• A radical Inquisitor called for Inquisition forces to arrest Lin En, prompting a heated argument over who should lead the operation.
• A Lord Inquisitor reminded the room that Lin En stood alongside Custodes, Space Marine Chapters, Lion El’Jonson, the Lord Regent, and other powerful allies, then asked what evidence could justify arresting him.
• The Inquisitors acknowledged that reports and records confirmed Lin En had controlled the Tyranids, but that fact alone did not prove corruption or heresy.
• The Lord Inquisitor noted that Lin En had officially registered twelve Tyranid motherships as loyal Imperial auxiliary forces under the designation Purple Carapace Chapter.
• After debating the case, the Inquisitors agreed to investigate Lin En thoroughly, despite lacking jurisdiction to enforce their will over the Emperor’s envoy.

The Inquisition reached a fragile agreement to send an observer to assess Lin En’s Purple Carapace Chapter in the Bolomite system, despite the political risks of investigating the Emperor’s envoy. After ruling out unsuitable candidates, the Lord Inquisitors selected Grand Inquisitor Valens.

• The Lord Inquisitors agreed to dispatch a diplomatic, unaffiliated Grand Inquisitor to Bolomite for a routine inspection and security assessment, with instructions to observe and report without interfering.
• The Inner Circle issued an encrypted notice inviting nominations and volunteers for the assignment.
• The Lord Inquisitors reviewed a shortlist of Grand Inquisitors, seeking someone senior, favorably regarded by Lin En, careful about boundaries, and likely to survive.
• The Lord Inquisitors rejected the Ordo Xenos for its hostility toward Tyranids and the Daemon Inquisition for its excessive suspicion of psykers.
• The Lord Inquisitors selected Grand Inquisitor Valens for the mission.

The Inner Circle summoned Inquisitor Valens and assigned him to inspect the Purple Carapace Chapter on Bolomite, where Lin En had reportedly controlled a Tyranid fleet. Valens recognized Lin En as someone he had investigated years earlier and wondered how the man’s position had changed so dramatically.

• The Inner Circle summoned Valens as soon as he returned from investigating Cultists in a distant star system.
• A Trainee Inquisitor urged Valens to read the Inner Circle’s notice about Bolomite, but Valens entered the meeting without reading it.
• The three Lord Inquisitors praised Valens’s recent mission before assigning him to inspect the Purple Carapace Chapter and assess whether Lin En had been replaced by a Genestealer or threatened humanity.
• The Lord Inquisitors told Valens that Lin En had controlled the Kraken Tyranids Remnant Fleet and ordered him to treat Lin En with utmost courtesy.
• Valens realized that Lin En was the person he had investigated while Lin En served in a mortal Guard Army regiment.

Valens received orders to assess whether the Purple Carapace Chapter and Lin En posed a threat to humanity, then studied Lin En’s record and decided to travel to Bolomite without an armed squad. He left aboard the Eye of Truth with only a small group of attendants, recorders, and a Psyker assistant.

• Three Lord Inquisitors ordered Valens to investigate the Purple Carapace Chapter and determine whether Lin En still belonged to humanity.
• Valens reviewed Inquisition files detailing Lin En’s many extraordinary deeds and concluded that he was a true Living Saint who would not betray the Imperium.
• Valens decided to take a chance on Lin En and brought no Inquisition armed squad or Grey Knights for the mission.
• Valens boarded the Eye of Truth with two attendants, two recorders, and a Psyker assistant, then ordered the captain to depart for Bolomite.

Inquisitor Valens traveled to Bolomite to investigate Lin En, weighing whether he was a fraud or a Living Saint while resolving to remain respectful and fulfill his duty. When the Eye of Truth arrived, Valens saw Bolomite’s orderly rebuilding—and the twelve colossal Tyranid Bio-ships that awaited on a nearby planet.

• Valens reviewed Lin En’s file during the Warp voyage and decided that, if Lin En was a true Living Saint, he would show him respect and recommend cooperation.
• Valens's adjutant questioned his concerns about Lin En, and Valens insisted that a Living Saint should not be judged by subjective impressions.
• Van Del warned Valens to treat Lin En with humility and courtesy, and Valens deleted the message to protect him from trouble within the Inquisition.
• The Eye of Truth emerged from the Warp and approached Bolomite, where Valens saw the rebuilding Forge World and the Lamenters’ fleet in orbit.
• Valens spotted twelve enormous Tyranid Bio-ships resting on the Desolate Planet and recognized the danger they posed.

Inquisitor Valens observed the Purple Carapace Chapter and arranged to meet Lin En at Bolomite, carefully limiting his party to four. News of the Inquisition’s arrival spread across the planet, leaving Bolomite’s residents and the Lamenters anxious about Lin En’s fate.

• Valens watched the Tyranid Bio-ships lie peacefully on the Desolate Planet while shuttles fed them and patrol craft monitored them.
• Valens received a message from Chapter Master Phoros inviting him to meet Lin En at the Bolomite Orbital Defense Center.
• Valens decided to bring only his deputy, a scribe, and an attendant, then left the Eye of Truth’s bridge for the shuttle.
• News that the Inquisition was coming to inspect the Purple Carapace Chapter spread across Bolomite, alarming the Lamenters, workers, and residents.

Iron Hammer panicked when he learned that the Inquisition was coming to inspect the Purple Carapace Chapter, but Cecilia reassured him that Lin En was confident nothing would happen. Bolomite resumed its work until the Inquisitor's ship arrived at the edge of the system, stirring up fresh anxiety.

• Iron Hammer dropped his welding torch and rushed to the Governor's Palace after hearing the Inquisition would inspect the Purple Carapace Chapter.
• Iron Hammer found Cecilia calmly reviewing documents and asked where Lin En was.
• Cecilia told Iron Hammer that Lin En trusted the Emperor's backing and said the inspection was routine.
• Cecilia sent Iron Hammer back to work, and the people of Bolomite tried to set aside their worries.
• The Orbital Defense Center reported that the Inquisitor's ship, the Eye of Truth, had arrived and requested permission to dock.

Lin En welcomed Grand Inquisitor Valens to Bolomite for a routine inspection, surprising the assembled crowd when Valens arrived with only three companions and treated Lin En deferentially. The locals and Astartes were left reassured by Lin En’s apparent influence over the Inquisition.

• Cecilia and the Chapter leaders organized a grand reception at Bolomite’s starport while Iron Hammer and the workers worried about facing a large Inquisition force.
• Valens’s enormous warship docked, but only Valens and three companions emerged, leaving the waiting crowd baffled.
• Lin En and his sister greeted Valens, who introduced himself as a Grand Inquisitor and explained that the Inner Circle Council had ordered a routine inspection of the Purple Carapace Chapter.
• Valens apologized for any offense and stressed that the inspection was not aimed at Lin En, shocking the crowd with his deferential manner.
• Lin En accepted Valens’s apology, and the Astartes stood proudly as the people recognized their lord’s influence.

Inquisitor Valens tested Lin En at the starport to check for genetic abnormalities, while the gathered Imperials watched anxiously. The analyzer confirmed Lin En was a pureblood human, leaving the Inquisition astonished that he could control Tyranids and everyone else surprised by his human ancestry.

• Lin En readily agreed to Valens's inspection and provided blood and hair samples.
• Valens loaded Lin En's samples into the genetic analyzer as the assembled crowd watched in silence.
• The analyzer reported that Lin En was a pureblood human with no abnormalities.
• The Inquisition's people wondered how a human could control Tyranids, while the others speculated that Lin En came from an ancient noble family on Terra.
• Phoros hurried to treat Lin En's tiny puncture, and Lin En asked why everyone was staring at him.

Lin En explained that the Tyranid swarm could be seized by severing its link to the Hive Consciousness, but warned that only a powerful barrier of the Emperor’s power could protect someone from the Hive Consciousness. He welcomed Inquisitor Valens to Bolomite, whose peaceful city amazed him, and Valens sent Lin En’s discovery to Terra, where it stirred the Inquisition’s radicals.

• Lin En told Inquisitor Valens that he had blocked the Hive Consciousness with a barrier of the Emperor’s power before taking control of the Tyranid swarm, and warned that ordinary humans should not attempt it unprotected.
• Inquisitor Valens decided the discovery offered the Imperium a new path and prepared to report it to Terra.
• Lin En invited Valens to Bolomite and asked him to inspect the new Purple Carapace Chapter the following day.
• Lin En led Valens and the others to Bolomite, where Valens saw its orderly, peaceful residential district and learned that Lin En had brought Echo Star out of the Warp.
• Valens settled into the Governor’s Palace and transmitted Lin En’s explanation through the Webway to Inquisition headquarters on Terra.
• The message reached Terra and renewed the Inquisition radicals’ desire to study Lin En.

The Inquisition’s radicals argued over studying Lin En and his method for controlling the Tyranids, but recognized that only the Emperor’s barrier made the attempt viable. The conservatives rejected pursuing Lin En and prepared to take part in the Imperium’s trials themselves.

• Radical Inquisitors demanded research into Lin En, his psychic powers, and the method he used to control Tyranids.
• One Inquisitor warned that without the Emperor’s barrier, attempts to sever the Hive Consciousness could cause dangerous psychic backlash, and he left the meeting.
• Radicals considered following Lin En to study him, but an Inquisitor pointed out they lacked Inquisitor Valens’s standing with him.
• Conservative Inquisitors agreed that the radicals were pursuing the wrong approach, while the elderly Inquisitor defended their intentions as serving the Imperium.
• The elderly Inquisitor revealed that he and several Grand Inquisitors would be among the first to undergo trials when the Imperium began trying to control the Tyranids.

Lin En watched an old Inquisitor volunteer for a dangerous attempt to counter the Hive Consciousness and resolved to keep helping the Imperium. The next day, he brought Valens to the Desolate Planet, where a Mothership’s enormous maw greeted them.

• The old Inquisitor explained that he and other senior Imperial figures would volunteer as test subjects, and urged the young Inquisitor to carry on their work.
• Lin En watched the Inquisition’s debate through the system, felt moved by the old Inquisitor’s loyalty, and decided the Imperium still needed the Inquisition.
• Lin En traveled from Bolomite to the Desolate Planet with Valens, Valerian, Carl, and Valens’s entourage.
• The shuttle landed near the largest Mothership, which opened its mouth, leaving Valens and his party staring at its gigantic teeth in alarm.

Lin En showed Inquisitor Valens the obedient Tyranid motherships and let him climb onto one. Valens stayed on Bolomite to explore its peaceful communities and Echo Star, leaving impressed by the happiness and stability there.

• Lin En restrained the largest Tyranid mothership and invited Valens to inspect it.
• Valens cautiously touched the mothership's living carapace, then climbed onto its head beside Lin En.
• Lin En offered to take Valens inside the mothership, but Valens refused after seeing its mouth and teeth.
• Valens finished his report but chose to stay on Bolomite for several more days.
• Valens visited Bolomite and Echo Star, seeing orderly communities where people were well fed, housed, and hopeful.

Inquisitor Valens left Bolomite after praising Lin En and promising to report honestly about the world and the Purple Carapace Chapter. Lin En then prepared to take his force to reclaim planets near the Maelstrom, beginning with the Greenskin-held mining world Isman.

• Valens decided his inspection was over and arranged to depart aboard the Eye of Truth.
• Lin En insisted on escorting Valens and his party to orbit despite Valens's attempts to spare him the trouble.
• Valens thanked Lin En, praised Bolomite and the Purple Carapace Chapter, and promised to oppose radical colleagues who would target them.
• Lin En and the others watched the Eye of Truth depart, then hurried off to begin their own work.
• Lin En planned to lead his force against Greenskin-held planets near the Maelstrom, with Isman as their first target.

Lin En sent the Purple Carapace Chapter’s Tyranid swarm to attack a Greenskin-infested planet so the Tyranids could feed on the Orks. As the swarm overwhelmed the Ork positions, warboss Gulga joined the fight against a Tyranid Executioner.

• Lin En tried using the Emperor’s Gaze on the Hive Fleet, but it had no effect, then ordered the Tyranids to attack the planet.
• Twelve mothership-class Bio-ships and their escorts launched from the Desolate Planet, with the Lamenters’ fleet following behind.
• The motherships dropped landing pods into dense Ork positions, where Tyranids emerged and began devouring the Greenskins.
• Lin En had chosen the Orks as food for the starving Tyranids, despite their dislike of Greenskin biomass.
• Gulga laughed at the attacking Tyranids until an Executioner killed one of his bodyguards, then attacked it and was surrounded by its companions.