Chapter Summaries

Mortarion killed Horus as Trazyn activated the Blackstone Obelisk and Hades unleashed a devastating Null tide across Cadia and the Warp. Hades stopped the tide before it erased humanity, but fell unconscious; later, Mortarion woke and tried to reach him before being banished back to the Warp.

• The Emperor drove back the Chaos gods with golden fire while Mortarion continued attacking Horus and Konrad struggled against the chain dragging him into the abyss.
• Trazyn activated the Blackstone Obelisk at Hades's command, unleashing a black tide that swept across Cadia and the battlefield as the Emperor's flames forced the Chaos gods to retreat.
• Mortarion killed Horus just as the black tide swallowed the Vengeful Spirit, and Konrad was dragged into the abyss.
• Hades absorbed the Chaos entities and disrupted the Null tide without harming the humans, but Trazyn shut down the machinery and Hades fell unconscious.
• Mortarion woke an hour later, traveled to Cadia, and tried to reach Hades, but the Blackstone Obelisk repelled him and he passed out before being banished back to the Warp.

The author reflected on the challenges of writing the Great Rebellion volume, apologized for its rushed pacing and poor update schedule, and thanked readers for staying with the story. After finishing the volume, the author planned to organize 40k’s plot and timeline, publish side stories, and return to the protagonist’s perspective in a more wish-fulfillment-focused continuation.

• The author thanked readers and reported the book’s changing readership, subscription, and bookmark numbers.
• The author explained that the protagonist had to leave the story because his prominence would draw attacks from the Four Gods, forcing the volume into an ensemble narrative.
• The author outlined the four acts: the Lord of the Underworld’s fall, the Second Imperium, Fool’s Red Heart, and Cadia Stands.
• The author admitted that anxiety, rushed pacing, illness, influenza, finals, and assignments affected the volume’s quality and updates.
• The author apologized for the volume’s shortcomings and said they had completed the Great Rebellion from beginning to end.
• The author planned to organize 40k’s plot and timeline, post side stories, and return to the protagonist’s perspective with a provisionally wish-fulfillment-focused tone.

Hades was reborn on Barbarus at max level with his god-tier gear and began clearing the planet’s monsters as he headed toward Nac'Lare’s mountain fortress. Mortarion prepared to use the approaching monster’s attack as a chance to kill his foster father, while Hades decided to rush to the summit and save him.

• Hades woke in Barbarus with his memories and powerful equipment intact, realizing he had returned to the start of his life there as a max-level Underking.
• Hades began systematically killing Barbarus’s monsters and Alien Lords while taking crops from human villages and leaving their people unharmed.
• As fleeing monsters gathered under Nac'Lare, Mortarion was taken toward the summit fortress and resolved to use the chaos to kill his foster father.
• Hades sensed Mortarion at the summit and chose not to end the conflict instantly, deciding instead to charge up the mountain and save him.

Mortarion interrupted Nac'Lare’s ritual and killed his adoptive father, only to discover that Hades had arrived and saved him from the ritual’s influence. Hades introduced himself as Mortarion’s “bro” and invited him to leave the mountain and find work in a village.

• Nac'Lare began sacrificing seven Psychic Lords in a ritual, and Mortarion burst from his locked room to disrupt it.
• Mortarion killed one of the sacrifices and tried to attack Nac'Lare, but Nac'Lare caught him and pinned him in the ritual circle.
• As Nac'Lare’s chant began to affect Mortarion, Hades’s voice interrupted the illusion, and Mortarion escaped and killed Nac'Lare.
• Mortarion found the puppets and lords dead, then laughed in disbelief as Hades arrived and asked if he was okay.
• Hades pulled Mortarion from the blood, gave him roasted corn, and invited him to come down the mountain and find work.
• Mortarion asked who Hades was, and Hades introduced himself as “bro,” leaving Mortarion puzzled.

After Hades effortlessly destroyed Nac'Lare's remaining forces, he and Mortarion began helping Barbarus recover through farming, technology, and village development. Hades planned for Mortarion to lead a future civilization, while Mortarion increasingly suspected Hades was insane.

• Hades casually destroyed Nac'Lare's fleeing puppet army and the carrion vultures, leaving Mortarion awed by his power.
• Hades persuaded Mortarion to farm, and a month later Mortarion taught villagers how to modify a reversible plow while Hades raced across the fields.
• Mortarion considered improving farming and medicine as he watched villagers admire Hades and discussed Barbarus's future with Heim.
• Hades explained that they needed to grow White Corn, share useful technologies, and avoid distributing weapons while the villages rebuilt.
• Hades told Mortarion he should become the leader of a new civilization, but Mortarion concluded that Hades was mentally ill.

Two years after Nac'Lare's death, Mortarion took charge of Safe Haven while Hades avoided paperwork. Mortarion helped Calas Typhon and his dying mother, then welcomed Calas into Safe Haven after the youth revealed his Psychic Power.

• Hades threw Mortarion to the ground when Mortarion tried to leave Safe Haven, leaving him to handle the day's work.
• Morag told Mortarion that Calas Typhon had tried to enter Safe Haven and was shunned because he and his mother had been cursed for his Alien parentage.
• Mortarion gave Calas food and medicine, examined his mother, and promised that Calas would be treated as an equal if he obeyed the law.
• Calas's mother thanked Mortarion and asked him to take Calas as a slave, but Mortarion refused to allow oppression and gave her pain-relieving medicine.
• Hades returned and praised Mortarion for sharing his jerky with Calas's family.
• Calas came to Safe Haven, offered to work for Mortarion, and demonstrated his Psychic Power; Hades recognized him and told Mortarion he would keep an eye on him.

Calas Typhon adjusted to his trusted role in Harbor Haven while Hades gathered children and planned for the Emperor’s arrival. Ten years later, Hades grew exhausted as Mortarion worried his condition was worsening, and Mortarion arrived carrying a trembling test tube, convinced Hades was running out of time.

• Mortarion reassured Calas Typhon that he could approve city documents, and Calas resolved to help Mortarion filter out petty people.
• Hades brought Vokes, Hazniel, Losul, Herrela, and Laisa to Harbor Haven, and Mortarion accepted that Hades could cultivate the next generation.
• Ten years later, Herrela brought Hades food while he asked whether Satellite Harvester 3 had detected other civilizations and predicted the Emperor would arrive soon.
• Hades planned to get Mortarion new clothes and laboratory equipment, while Herrela worried that Hades’s growing exhaustion meant his illness was worsening.
• Mortarion rushed to Hades with a trembling test tube, fearing Hades was running out of time and might go completely mad.

Mortarion struggled with the news that his biological father, Neos, was coming, while Hades mistakenly believed Mortarion was trying to treat his delusions. Mortarion arranged for Hades to be put into a suspended state, then met Neos as the Emperor arrived on Barbarus.

• Herrela, Laisa, Vokes, and Karras waited outside while Hades tried to reassure Mortarion about Neos’s arrival.
• Mortarion told Hades that he was his only father, and Hades explained his past-life memories and his belief that Neos would give Mortarion a Legion.
• Mortarion gave Hades a medicine intended to suspend his bodily functions, and Hades drank it before collapsing; after Mortarion left, Hades woke and pretended to remain unconscious.
• Mortarion told Barbarus’s leaders that Hades had lost touch with reality and proposed prioritizing medical research while continuing the planet’s development.
• A messenger summoned Mortarion outside, where he saw Neos arrive and realized the towering man was his biological father.

Mortarion confronted the Emperor, accepted him as his biological father, and agreed to lead a Legion after the Emperor promised to save Hades. The Emperor revealed Hades had already been healed, while Hades woke furious at Mortarion and the Emperor and Malcador’s deception.

• Mortarion asked the Emperor to help him and agreed to accept him as his father if he could save Hades.
• The Emperor and Malcador pretended Hades’s condition required a great sacrifice, and Mortarion offered to earn 105 consecutive victories in exchange for Hades’s recovery.
• Hades struggled to interrupt the staged test, but Malcador and the Emperor pinned him down and silenced him.
• The Emperor revealed that he had been healing Hades from the moment he arrived and said Hades was already unharmed.
• Hades woke and insisted he had only been pretending to sleep, but Mortarion believed the medicine had left him confused as the Emperor and Malcador departed.

The chapter recounts the Imperium’s history from the Underking’s sealing in M31 through the Age of Revival and the rise of the Ecclesiarchy. By 998.M31, strange Psychic Power fluctuations have appeared and a powerful enemy is preparing to challenge the Imperium in the coming War of the Beast.

• The Underking was sealed on Cadia, the Great Rift opened, the Astronomican went dark, and the Emperor later reignited it before falling into a long slumber.
• Roboute Guilliman became Imperial Regent, and the Primarchs established the Ecclesiarchy, High Lords Council, Astra Militarum, and Imperial Navy while Guilliman proposed dividing the Legions into Chapters.
• Rogal Dorn, the Imperial Fists, and The Phalanx vanished after their last garbled transmission, while the Great Purge reclaimed much of the Dark Side of the Imperium.
• The Imperium entered the Age of Revival, divided its Legions into Chapters, and promulgated the Codex Astartes as the Ecclesiarchy spread across human worlds.
• Sanguinius, Guilliman, Angron, and Vulkan governed the Imperium through a peaceful and prosperous era, while Corax and Lion El'Jonson vanished and Mortarion withdrew to the Storm Nebula.
• The Ecclesiarchy detected doubts in the Storm Nebula, the Astro-Telepathica reported brief Psychic Power fluctuations, and a hidden force prepared for the War of the Beast.

The Imperium fought a devastating war against the Ork empire that returned from the Warp, culminating in the Great Crusade of Ullanor and the defeat of the Beast. The war ended with Vulkan missing, Rogal Dorn comatose, and the Imperium entering a new era of recovery and reform.

• Three Ork combat moons appeared above Terra, and Sanguinius, Vulkan, and Angron destroyed two before leading an assault on the third.
• After three months of fighting, the Imperium destroyed the third combat moon at the cost of heavy casualties, then launched a Great Crusade toward Ullanor.
• At Ullanor, the Orks revealed The Phalanx, where Rogal Dorn and surviving Imperial Fists had been trapped; Angron and Vulkan joined the battle to reclaim the vessel.
• Mortarion arrived with the Silent Sisters, the Cerberus legion, and Death Guard forces, helping defeat the Ork Warbosses and save Dorn, while Vulkan returned to life.
• Mortarion and Vulkan killed the Beast after a seven-day battle, but Vulkan vanished, Mortarion was gravely wounded, and Angron was also badly injured.
• Sanguinius agreed to revise The Ecclesiarchy after Koorland and other representatives urged him to recognize the Underking and Death; Guilliman later established the Deathwatch as the Imperium entered the Reforging Era.

The Imperium recovered from the War of the Beast as the Primarchs rebuilt its power and Sanguinius expanded the Ecclesiarchy, while Sevatar investigated secrets surrounding the First Legion. During a pilgrimage across the Imperium, Sanguinius was gravely wounded in an assassination attempt in the Storm Nebula, beginning the Age of Apostasy.

• Roboute Guilliman led the Imperium's reconstruction, while Tarasha Yutton died without seeing him again.
• Sevatar investigated the Fallen Angels and linked the First Legion to Corax's disappearance, despite Guilliman's order to stop the inquiry.
• Sanguinius expanded the Ecclesiarchy as signs of The Emperor's recovery appeared, though Mortarion warned that Warp power would eventually turn against its master.
• Sanguinius, Angron, and Guilliman began a grand pilgrimage, witnessing Lorgar's apparition on Colchis and growing uneasy at her warning.
• The Pale Lord descended from the white mist and gravely wounded Sanguinius in an assassination attempt in the Storm Nebula, ushering in the Age of Apostasy.

Mortarion failed to convince Guilliman and Angron that Sanguinius had been corrupted, and he was imprisoned as the Imperium purged the Storm Nebula. A year later, as Sanguinius recovered and signs suggested The Emperor was reviving, Sanguinius began a ritual to awaken Him, ushering in the darkness remembered as Sanguinala.

• Mortarion argued that Sanguinius had been corrupted by Faith Power and urged Guilliman and Angron to use the Underking's power to sever it, but they rejected his claims.
• Sanguinius forgave Mortarion and had him imprisoned, while the Imperium purged the Storm Nebula and the Death Guard surrendered.
• A year later, Sanguinius's wounds and Mortarion's toxins continued to weaken him as signs of The Emperor's revival spread across Imperial territory.
• Sanguinius recovered, consulted Valdor, and decided to perform a ritual to awaken The Emperor; Guilliman and Angron agreed.
• On December 25, Sanguinius began the ritual, and the day later became known among the people as Sanguinala.

On Sanguinala, Mortarion escaped his dungeon with help from Amit and Sevatar and revealed that Sanguinius’s apparent perfection concealed a dangerous second nature. Mortarion and Sevatar left to intervene in the Emperor’s ritual, while Sevatar warned that someone might be trying to remove Guilliman and the other primarchs.

• Guilliman and Sanguinius discussed Mortarion’s charges, while Sanguinius insisted that Amit remain his guard.
• Vincent gave Sevatar his Inquisition necklace and urged him to act quickly, then died after Sevatar vanished.
• Mortarion broke free from his restraints with help from Amit and Garo, and Sevatar arrived too late to prevent the escape.
• Amit explained the Blood Angels’ history and told Mortarion that Sanguinius’s two natures had become unbalanced; Mortarion concluded that Sanguinius’s hidden side was approaching a fall.
• Mortarion knocked Amit unconscious and told Sevatar that he planned to seal Sanguinius and the accumulated Faith Power during the ritual.
• Sevatar suspected factions were plotting to unseat the primarchs, especially Guilliman, and Mortarion rushed him away to address the imminent crisis.

The attempted awakening of the God-Emperor triggered Sanguinius’s monstrous transformation and the Blood Angels’ madness, plunging the Imperium into panic and rebellion. Roboute Guilliman was impeached, killed the High Lords who betrayed him, and died of illness on Macragge, leaving the Imperium to face the Age of Apostasy without his leadership.

• During the Sanguinala ritual, Sanguinius grew black feathers, and many Blood Angels and their successor Chapters descended into rage and attacked those around them.
• Mortarion, Roboute Guilliman, and Angron subdued Sanguinius; Mortarion and Guilliman were badly injured, while Sanguinius and Angron disappeared, and Terra began erasing records of the incident.
• As the Black Legion attacked and worlds declared independence, Guilliman mobilized Imperial forces, gave a speech to rally Terra, and sent Sigismund to fight the Chaos Legions.
• In 021.M33, Vincent and the High Lords impeached Guilliman, accusing him of interfering with the Adeptus Mechanicus, favoring the Ultramarines, shielding the Death Guard, and supporting blasphemous technology.
• When Guilliman realized the High Lords were using the impeachment to betray him, he ordered The Huscarls to kill them and destroyed the machine they presented as evidence.
• Guilliman handed command of the Legion to Sigismund, returned to Macragge, and died beside Yutton’s tomb as the Imperium entered the Age of Apostasy.

The Black Legion exploited the Imperium’s upheaval to wage war while Vandire seized control of Terra and turned the Ecclesiarchy into an instrument of power. After decades of conflict, Booze Bella led an alliance back to Terra, killed Vandire, and proclaimed joint rule by the God-Emperor and the Underking, ending the Age of Apostasy.

• Warmaster Abaddon launched a prepared Black Crusade into the Mondus and Pacific Sectors as the Imperium reeled from Sanguinala.
• Vandire used the Black Legion’s invasion to recruit the Daughters of the Emperor, and Sigismund later sent Vandire back to Terra to rebuild the Ecclesiarchy.
• Vandire consolidated power on Terra, founded a new church, and expanded his authority while the Death Guard spread the Cult of the Underworld and the Mechanicus fought wars among its Forge Worlds.
• Booze Bella learned that Vandire was obstructing the war effort, gained support from Vokes and Karras, and became a celebrated warrior through campaigns against Chaos.
• Booze Bella led Space Marines and allied Forge Worlds back to Terra, persuaded the Battle Sisters to lay down their weapons, and killed Vandire.
• Booze Bella announced joint rule by the God-Emperor and the Underking, while Magi from Graia and Fhaos declared the Omnissiah was the Underking.

Recorder Lamp recorded selected events across the Imperium from M33 to M35, including political upheavals, religious conflicts, and the rise and fall of factions. The chapter ended with Fhaos escaping Terra’s assault through the Maelstrom, leaving the Navigators, Astro-Telepathica, and Astronomican Hall weakened.

• Buzubela promoted a new faith combining the God-Emperor and the Underking, then led campaigns that reorganized Imperial institutions and made him second seat of the High Lords Council.
• Buzubela was gravely wounded during the campaign against GaLSmo, and the Death Guard finished the war before Calas Typhon and Jin-306 failed to reclaim him from Macragge.
• Eldar adopted new ways of seeking oblivion, while Vokes led the Silent Lords into the Webway to hunt them for Soulless.
• A Warp storm and political struggle paralyzed Terra, and the Astro-Telepathica, Navigators, and Astronomican Hall emerged victorious after a century of conflict.
• Fhaos announced its Quantum Slingshot technology, prompting Terra and its allies to declare the Forge World fallen and attack it.
• Fhaos shut down its Blackstone Obelisk, triggering a Psychic Storm that devastated the attacking Psykers and forced Terra’s forces to end the war; the three travel institutions then lost power in the High Lords Council.

The timeline chronicled events from M35 to M41, including Mortarion’s disappearance into the Warp and the growing Tyranid threat. As Inquisitor Kryptman prepared to destroy worlds along the Tyranids’ path, Trazyn brought a returning figure to an unknown planet overrun by Tyranids.

• Biel-Tan warned the Eldar of a coming nightmare, but few answered its call to prepare.
• Slaanesh’s awakening unleashed Warp storms and slaughtered Eldar, while Vokes and the Ultramarines mobilized against Abaddon.
• Mortarion led a vast Death Guard force and the Reaper Host into the Warp to confront Nurgle, then vanished from the Imperium’s sight.
• The Tyranids invaded Macragge, where the Sons of the Lord of the Underworld awakened and joined the Ultramarines in defending their home.
• Orikan confronted Trazyn over his aid to the Xenos, but Trazyn escaped with his exhibit after a great clock struck Orikan.
• Inquisitor Kryptman prepared to Exterminatus worlds along a defensive line as Trazyn arrived above a Tyranid-overrun planet with a returning man.

Black Butcher and Barry faced the Tyranid swarm as the last survivors on their planet until a black coffin fell from the sky and destroyed the creatures with darkness and emerald lightning. A giant emerged from the coffin, and Black recognized him as the Underking, Hades.

• Black carried the gravely wounded Barry through the jungle while fighting off Tyranids and mourning his squad's deaths.
• Three Neurotyrants confronted Black, but a wave of darkness suddenly swept across the planet and brought down the Tyranids.
• Black found a strange black coffin in a clearing as the Tyranids turned on one another.
• A Knife Worm approached the coffin, triggering emerald lightning that incinerated Tyranids and struck down a distant bio-vessel.
• A giant emerged from the coffin and approached Black, who knelt and introduced himself as a descendant of the Sons of the Underworld.
• The giant's darkness receded, revealing Hades in a floral shirt and slippers.

Hades awakened near Octarius after a ten-thousand-year slumber and met Black Butcher, who recognized him as his genetic father and the Underking. Trazyn's letter explained why he had awakened Hades there and warned that Hades's existence had been exposed, leaving Hades eager to settle the matter with Trazyn.

• Hades confirmed that Black Butcher was his descendant, learned the year was 889.M41, and asked about their location near Octarius.
• Hades carried the unconscious Barry of the Sky Lion Chapter to his bed and discovered Trazyn had left him a doll and a letter instead of his armor and weapons.
• Hades read that Trazyn had kept him as an exhibit, but Orikan's intrusion exposed Hades's existence to other Necrons and C'tan shards.
• Trazyn said he had awakened Hades amid the Tyranids to conceal him, urged him to stay in the region for a year, and explained that Hades would have to make armor from his bed.
• After reading that Trazyn had gone to court against Orikan, Hades decided he might not wait to act.