Recaps

Lorgar awakened in his own body on Colchis in 30,856, shortly after uniting his homeworld, and killed Kor Phaeron when he recognized the primarch’s changed soul. He resolved to build the true Word Bearers and target the Chaos Gods, beginning by looking for Erebus.

• A Warp Storm scattered the Emperor’s twenty-one embryos, and the one marked XVII landed on Colchis, where Kor Phaeron took him after slaughtering the tribe that found him.
• Lorgar awoke in his primarch body and realized that Kor Phaeron had entered his room and sensed that his soul was different.
• Lorgar punched through Kor Phaeron’s chest and killed him before the guards arrived.
• The guards assumed Kor Phaeron had tried to assassinate Lorgar, removed his body, and cleaned the room.
• Lorgar recalled that it was 30,856 and reviewed how he had united Colchis through the Schism War and the capture of Vhaladesh and Gahvalah.
• Lorgar decided to teach the Chaos Gods a lesson and set out to find Erebus.

Lorgar ordered Senatis to find Erebus and bring him in, while suspecting the Covenant Church was tied to Chaos. Erebus revealed his new power by attacking the guards, but Lorgar arrived before he could finish off Senatis.

• Lorgar ordered Senatis to search the Covenant Church for Erebus after his men found no trace of him elsewhere.
• Senatis entered the cathedral during a baptism and called for Erebus to come forward.
• Erebus accepted a voice's promise of power, killed the guards restraining him, and broke Senatis's sword.
• Erebus wounded Senatis and claimed he could defeat Lorgar, while the churchgoers did nothing to help.
• Lorgar burst through the cathedral doors and challenged Erebus.

Lorgar killed Erebus and destroyed the cathedral after defeating his followers. In the Warp, Tzeentch welcomed the branching timelines caused by Erebus’s death, while Khorne withdrew his power and condemned Erebus as a coward.

• Lorgar struck Erebus with a heavy book, then led his guards against Erebus and the believers in the cathedral.
• Erebus attacked Lorgar with a sword infused with Psychic Energy, but Lorgar smashed his head against a wall and killed him.
• Lorgar’s guards killed most of the believers, and Lorgar ordered the bodies and cathedral destroyed and burned.
• Tzeentch observed the timelines split after Erebus died and delighted in the endless possible futures.
• Khorne withdrew his power from Erebus, declared him unworthy, and began seeking a new pawn.

Lorgar recruited Hercules as a future First Company captain and began crushing the Covenant Church’s rebellion on Colchis. After taking the rebels’ fortified city of Khisra by himself, he left the Word Bearers poised to consolidate control.

• Lorgar chose sixteen-year-old Hercules, whose family depended on him, to serve him and become a trusted confidant and future captain of the First Company.
• Lorgar decided to avoid the coming Rangdan Xenocides and focus on strengthening the Word Bearers, while keeping Angron’s fate in mind.
• Lorgar led a purge against the Covenant Church, stormed its main cathedral, and slaughtered the believers who stood in his way.
• More than a hundred thousand Covenant believers fled to Khisra, declared Lorgar a heretic, and called for his death.
• Lorgar marched on Khisra with several thousand followers, smashed a massive section of its wall with his Staff, and took the city.

Lorgar met Magnus the Red and the Emperor, agreed to join the Great Crusade after securing several star systems around Colchis as recruiting worlds, and prepared to meet his legion. He left Colchis in the care of Senatis as the first 120,000 candidates were selected.

• Lorgar greeted Magnus the Red and the Emperor when their transport arrived on Colchis.
• The Emperor invited Lorgar to lead a legion in the Great Crusade, and Lorgar secured several star systems around Colchis as recruiting worlds.
• Lorgar asked Hercules to become the first Space Marine from Colchis and urged him to use his strength to protect the oppressed.
• The Emperor agreed to Lorgar's terms, and Tech-Priests and construction crews began building Hive Cities and other structures on Colchis.
• The next morning, Lorgar entrusted Colchis to Senatis and learned that 120,000 candidates had been selected for the legion.
• Paulus Trichmann, captain of the Fifteenth Company, escorted Lorgar aboard the transport to meet his legion.

Lorgar toured the Word Bearers’ flagship, the Law of Faith, and ordered Rockefeller to revise the legion’s bloated organization. After inspecting his prepared chambers, Lorgar asked to see his gene-sons train.

• Rockefeller and the Word Bearers gathered to welcome Lorgar aboard the Law of Faith.
• Lorgar gave the legion’s organizational document to his Adjutant and ordered a revision.
• Lorgar reviewed the Word Bearers’ squad, company, Chapter, and spiritual command structures while considering the threats Erebus and Kor Phaeron had posed.
• Rockefeller showed Lorgar the cathedral-like Gloriana-class flagship and the lavish chambers prepared for him.
• Lorgar approved of the chambers, then asked Rockefeller to take him to the training grounds.

Lorgar watched Paulus win a training duel, then reorganized the Word Bearers Legion into thirteen specialized Chapters and established a new Chaplain role. He began writing the Lectitio Divinitatus and launched the Legion’s crusade under the doctrine that great power carried great responsibility.

• Lorgar watched Company Captain Paulus defeat Lancelot in a duel by snapping his sword and holding his blade to Lancelot’s throat.
• Lorgar greeted Magnus and saw him off as Magnus and his Legion prepared to depart.
• Lorgar ordered the Word Bearers’ five main Chapters expanded into thirteen, including one Chapter under his direct command and twelve specialized Chapters.
• Lorgar established a stronger, more loyal Chaplain role to rally legionaries and Mortals.
• Lorgar began writing the Lectitio Divinitatus, teaching that the Word Bearers’ power brought responsibility and that they must fight for humanity and justice.

Lorgar received an Ultramarines request to investigate a company that had vanished after answering a distress call in the Odesol Star System. He led the Word Bearers fleet through the Warp and arrived in the system.

• Magnus praised Lorgar’s Legion Code, while the Emperor and Malcador decided to observe him before assigning the Word Bearers their missions.
• The Word Bearers’ Chapters were divided among three expeditionary fleets, with the Seventh Chapter kept in reserve.
• Captain Sebastian told Lorgar that an Ultramarines company had lost contact after going to Sobik Colony in the Odesol Star System.
• An Ultramarines Chapter Master explained that his Legion was too occupied to investigate and said Guilliman had asked the Word Bearers for help.
• Lorgar ordered his fleet to set course for the Odesol Star System and led it into the Warp.
• After more than a dozen hours of Warp travel, Lorgar’s fleet arrived in the Odesol Star System.

Lorgar's fleet found the Sacred Vanguard and the missing colonial ships transformed and covered in flesh, then discovered Ultramarines fighting Flesh Monsters on Otheros. After destroying the Sacred Vanguard, Lorgar sent Paulus's company to rescue the warriors on the planet, where Captain Sabrachi continued to hold the line.

• Lorgar confirmed that the distress signal came from the Otheros Colony as a Tech-Priest spotted the derelict Sacred Vanguard beside the fleet.
• The Sacred Vanguard moved toward the fleet and showed millions of life signs, so Lorgar ordered the Words of Dread to fire and destroy it.
• Lorgar saw the missing colonial ships near Otheros, each covered in flesh and marked by tens of thousands of life signs.
• Lorgar ordered Paulus's company to join the fighting on Otheros and retrieve the Legion warriors without getting drawn into a prolonged battle.
• Paulus's company flew toward the planet as Captain Sabrachi and the Ultramarines fought a horde of Flesh Monsters among the ruins.

Company Captain Slox and the surviving Ultramarines fought a desperate battle against a vast horde of Flesh Monsters. As a gigantic monster threatened their position, Word Bearers gunships arrived and struck it with missiles.

• Company Captain Slox led the Ultramarines in firing on the Flesh Monsters, then charged them with his Power Sword.
• The surviving Space Marines fought the advancing creatures with bolters, Chainswords, grenades, and other weapons.
• An Averus Barge covered in flesh swooped overhead, and Brother Angrod and other legionaries destroyed it with missiles and Melta weapons.
• A towering monster made from corpses and tanks charged the Ultramarines, shrugging off their bolter fire.
• Company Captain Slox prepared to face the giant monster, but missiles struck it as a dozen Word Bearers Storm Eagle Tactical Gunships appeared.

Company Captain Slox was rescued from the Flesh Monsters by Paulus and the Word Bearers, then brought before Lorgar to report the destruction of the Otheros Colony. He revealed that an unknown Xenos species used advanced bioengineering to transform colonists and soldiers into living weapons.

• Paulus led the Word Bearers in rescuing Slox and the surviving Ultramarines from the Flesh Monsters, then evacuated them from the planet.
• Slox told Paulus that his company had answered a distress call from the Otheros Colony and that the Sacred Vanguard had been lost.
• Rockefeller escorted Slox and Takris aboard the Law of Faith to meet Lorgar.
• Slox reported that the Colony and its soldiers had been destroyed and that his company had lost 246 Battle-Brothers.
• Slox described the Xenos as bioengineers who dissolved captives in living vats and made weapons designed to spread fear and use victims' biomass.

After learning that a battle had cost hundreds of Space Marines, Lorgar resolved to capture an enemy and interrogate it about its homeworld. When the Word Bearers located a Warship hiding near Otheros, Lorgar ordered an assault, and the chapter leaves the boarding force poised to breach the vessel.

• Lorgar questioned Slox about the enemy and decided the Imperium needed to capture one for interrogation.
• Lorgar ordered Chapter Master Rockefeller to help find a xenos prisoner and learned that a Warship was hiding near Otheros from Colesler Evans.
• Lorgar sent the Fidelitas Lex and the Chronicle of Ashes toward the enemy while the rest of the fleet sealed off the star system.
• Katrans led the Battle Barges in an attack that overloaded the enemy Warship's Defence Shield.
• The Word Bearers' 13th Heavy Assault Squad boarded a Caestus Assault Ram and prepared to breach the enemy ship.

The Word Bearers launched an assault on a Xenos Warship, blasting a breach into its hull and boarding it under Chaplain Kroll’s command. Slrax and the Third Heavy Assault Squad confronted the terrified arthropod-like defenders and prepared to kill them.

• The Chronicle of Ashes pursued the Xenos Warship while Chaplain Kroll preached to the Word Bearers and led the boarding force.
• The Gunships charged through enemy fire, and one was destroyed as its crew’s sacrifice helped the others advance.
• The Hammer of Truth fired its Melta Cannon through the Xenos Warship’s hull, then rammed into the breach.
• The Third Heavy Assault Squad emerged from the Gunship and encountered the Xenos defenders inside the living passageway.
• Slrax denounced the Xenos as impure and commanded the Word Bearers to purify them in the names of the Emperor and Lorgar.

Sergeant Slrax and the Third Heavy Assault Squad stormed the Xenos warship, cutting through its defenders with bolter fire and Chainswords. Elsewhere aboard the ship, Chaplain Kroll led another squad into the fight, calling on the Xenos to repent as his warriors advanced.

• Sergeant Slrax led the Third Heavy Assault Squad in a charge through the warship’s corridors, firing on the Xenos defenders.
• The Terminators broke through the Xenos defensive line as their attacks failed to halt the advancing squad.
• Slrax wielded twin Chainswords at the front of the assault, slaughtering dozens of Xenos warriors and becoming drenched in pale blue blood.
• Chaplain Kroll led a squad of Legion warriors aboard the warship, denouncing the Xenos and advancing under steady bolter fire.

Chaplain Kroll and his Assault Squad fought through the Xenos facility and discovered a laboratory where humans had been grotesquely altered in tanks. Enraged, Kroll smashed a tank and crushed the creature emerging from a dead woman, leaving the squad facing the remaining horrors in the chamber.

• Kroll led the Assault Squad through the Xenos corridors, killing defenders and burning through a reinforced door.
• Kroll and the warriors discovered rows of tanks containing human bodies and horrific experiments.
• Kroll saw a wormlike creature emerging from a tortured woman and denounced the scene as blasphemy.
• Kroll smashed the tank, then stamped the creature into the floor as its wail stopped.
• Kroll looked down at the dead woman and spoke with solemn compassion.

Kroll ordered the Word Bearers to burn the laboratory and destroy the alien guards ambushing the Third Heavy Assault Squad. He captured the last surviving alien to force it to reveal its homeworld’s location, leaving the Legion preparing to bring the war to the alien species’ world.

• Kroll ordered the Space Marines to burn the laboratory, and the imprisoned human remains seemed to laugh with relief as the flames consumed them.
• Sergeant Slrax ordered the Third Heavy Assault Squad to break through a reinforced gate, where surviving alien guards opened fire with a rotating laser weapon.
• A Word Bearers heavy-weapons specialist destroyed the alien firing position, and the Terminators entered the final room and killed the guards who attacked them.
• Kroll stopped a warrior from shooting the lone surviving alien and captured it with his Power Fist.
• Kroll ordered the alien taken alive to the Chronicle of Ashes for interrogation so the Legion could learn the coordinates of its homeworld.

Lorgar explored his immense Psychic Energy aboard the Law of Faith, then used it to rip the captured Xenos officer’s memories from its mind. He discovered the enemy’s homeworld and ordered its destruction.

• Lorgar demonstrated that he could wield Psychic Energy at a strength rivaling an Alpha-level Psyker, setting a training sword ablaze with power that could wound the soul.
• First Captain Rockefeller told Lorgar that Chaplain Kroll was interrogating a captured Xenos officer, and Lorgar went to see the prisoner.
• Kroll explained that the Xenos’ collective consciousness made it resistant to conventional torture, but Lorgar told him to stop and took over.
• Lorgar forced his way into the Xenos’ mind, killing it as he extracted its memories and formed a Star Chart with Psychic Energy.
• Lorgar identified the Xenos homeworld on the Star Chart and ordered the Word Bearers to destroy it.

Roboute Guilliman arrived aboard Macragge's Honour and met Lorgar after the Ultramarines survived the battle against the Xenos. Guilliman agreed to join Lorgar in attacking the Xenos homeworld, and they prepared to bring the Emperor's judgment down upon it.

• Macragge's Honour emerged from the Warp Rift and Guilliman entered the Chronicle of Ashes hangar.
• The wounded Captain Slox and the surviving Ultramarines stood in formation to greet Guilliman.
• Guilliman thanked Lorgar for rescuing his warriors, and the two Primarchs met and assessed one another.
• Lorgar revealed that a prisoner had provided the Xenos homeworld's coordinates and asked Guilliman to join the attack.
• Guilliman agreed to join Lorgar and vowed to bring the Emperor's Wrath down upon the Xenos with precision.

Lorgar ordered Exterminatus against the Kaindrashi Civilization, and the Imperial fleets arrived above its homeworld, Otlak. Atmospheric Incineration Torpedoes ignited the planet’s atmosphere, beginning the civilization’s total destruction.

• Lorgar ordered the Revenge Fleet to destroy the target planet and every world occupied by the enemy.
• The Imperial fleets emerged above Otlak, where Macragge's Honour and the Law of Faith took position over the Kaindrashi homeworld.
• Lorgar identified the Kaindrashi as the Flesh Editors, a civilization that absorbed species into its telepathic Unified Flesh.
• Tech-Priests, Legion Chaplains, and Word Bearers consecrated an Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo before launching it from the Law of Faith.
• Two Atmospheric Incineration Torpedoes detonated in low orbit and ignited Otlak’s atmosphere, setting the planet ablaze and vaporizing the Unified Flesh.

After the Word Bearers destroyed the Solomon Star System, Lorgar welcomed Guilliman and challenged him to a duel aboard the Law of Faith. Their evenly matched fight ended with both Primarchs striking at each other’s vital points, leaving the contest undecided.

• Lorgar declared the destruction of the Solomon Star System an insignificant victory and ordered his Legion to resupply and press onward.
• Guilliman arrived aboard the Law of Faith, and Lorgar privately resolved to strengthen the Emperor through faith on the worlds his Legion conquered.
• Lorgar asked Guilliman to fight him one-on-one, and Guilliman agreed.
• Lorgar and Guilliman fought with swords and shields in the Legion Duel Arena while Rockefeller refereed.
• Both Primarchs landed blows at each other’s vital points, and Rockefeller rang the bell to end the match.

After Lorgar and Guilliman ended their sparring match as friends, the 83rd Expeditionary Fleet answered a distress call from Dawn III, where an Ork invasion had trapped millions in Jungle Hive City. Colonel Theodore Wright and the 894th Infantry Regiment held the city walls against the overwhelming horde as Allen Colin’s Fourth Chapter prepared to relieve them.

• Lorgar and Guilliman sheathed their swords after their fight and hoped to fight together again after the Great Crusade.
• Rass Noda learned that an Ork Fleet had invaded Dawn III, and Allen Colin volunteered the Fourth Chapter for the relief mission.
• The Orks used a meteor shower to conceal their approach, destroyed Dawn III’s orbital Star Fortress, and attacked Jungle Hive City with a vast army.
• The Imperialis Militia manned the Hive City’s defenses and fired on the Orks, determined to protect their families despite being unable to counterattack.
• Colonel Theodore Wright ordered his vox operator to correct the artillery fire and target the densely packed Orks instead of their heavily armoured machines.
• The 894th Infantry Regiment maintained disciplined firing lines along the walls as Orks battered the city’s defenses.

Colonel Wright and the 894th Regiment struggled to hold Jungle Hive City against the Ork horde after losing contact with orbit and running low on ammunition. When the eastern wall collapsed, an Imperial Guard soldier met the first Ork through the breach with a lethal bayonet thrust.

• The Imperial defenders fought back Ork assaults for more than ten days while their defense line neared collapse.
• Colonel Wright learned that contact with orbit had been lost and ordered ammunition prioritized for the front line as the regiment defended the city's last core district.
• An Ork bombardment shattered a section of the eastern wall, and Wright led the reserves toward the breach.
• A huge Ork appeared among the rubble, and an ordinary Imperial Guard soldier charged it with his Lasgun bayonet.
• The soldier drove the bayonet into the Ork's neck, causing it to bleed heavily and lose strength.

Imperial soldiers fought desperately to hold the breach as Orks poured through the Defense Line. In the Star Fortress, Skulltaker Gul'dan ordered his Big Meks to sabotage its controls so he could use it to destroy the defenders, while a fleet of battleships and Battle Barges emerged from the Warp.

• An auxiliary Sergeant killed an Ork at the breach, but the death spurred the Orks into a fiercer assault backed by heavy weapons and rockets.
• Imperial soldiers and Orks slaughtered one another in close combat, and a squad sergeant rescued a wounded veteran before ordering him to keep holding the position.
• Skulltaker Gul'dan raged at the slow attack and ordered his forces to hit the Imperial defenders harder.
• Gul'dan told the Big Meks to wreck the Star Fortress's controls so he could use it to destroy the last Defense Line.
• More than a dozen battleships and Battle Barges emerged from the Warp and headed toward the Star Fortress.

Company Captain Wilson led the Word Bearers and an Imperial fleet to reinforce Dawn III, answering a distress call from the Imperial Army while attacking the Orks’ Star Fortress. After the fleet blasted open the fortress and the Word Bearers boarded it, Wilson killed the Ork Warboss and rallied his forces to finish the assault.

• Chapter Master Colin ordered Wilson and the Second Company to reinforce Dawn III while the main fleet attacked the Orks’ homeworld.
• Wilson received the Imperial Army’s distress signal and promised that the Word Bearers would clear orbit and come to the defenders’ aid.
• The fleet attacked the Ork-held Star Fortress with Macro-cannons, breaking its defenses and opening breaches.
• Word Bearers Drop Pods struck the fortress, and Wilson led the boarding force in a fierce fight against the Orks.
• Wilson beheaded the Ork Warboss, raised its head to demoralize the Orks, and ordered his troops to kill them all.

Company Captain Wilson confronted the Ork warboss Gul'dan after it killed a Word Bearers warrior, then fought it in the corridor. Gul'dan knocked Wilson backward, but Wilson severed its left hand and challenged it to continue.

• Wilson led the Word Bearers through the Star Fortress, cutting down Orks until Gul'dan appeared and crushed one of his warriors.
• Gul'dan mocked the fallen warrior and threw his body toward Wilson, prompting Wilson to charge with his Power Sword.
• Wilson dodged Gul'dan's Warhammer and relentlessly struck its weapon and joints, forcing the warboss back as its hammer began to break apart.
• Gul'dan punched Wilson in the Helmet while Wilson severed its left hand with his sword.
• Wilson tore off his broken Helmet and challenged Gul'dan to come at him.