Recaps

Perturabo vented his anger at the Adeptus Mechanicus, then told Lorgar he planned to return to Olympia. He revealed that his tyrannical foster father had clashed with his sister and declared that he would kill him.

• Perturabo condemned the Adeptus Mechanicus for hoarding technology and struck a stone railing, shattering it.
• Perturabo and Lorgar returned to the banquet hall, where Leman Russ lay passed out, Guilliman tried to calm Lion El'Jonson, and Sanguinius quietly enjoyed fruit and wine.
• Perturabo took Lorgar to a secluded terrace and asked what he planned to do next; Lorgar said he would continue the Great Crusade.
• Perturabo said he intended to return to Olympia after completing tests on his defensive line.
• Perturabo told Lorgar that his foster father had come into conflict with his sister and declared that he was going back to Olympia to kill him.

Perturabo told Lorgar he planned to kill his adoptive father, Loken, and Lorgar accepted his decision. At the banquet, Horus appointed Lorgar Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, leaving Lorgar surprised by the unexpected offer.

• Perturabo described his intent to kill Loken, and Lorgar calmly said he would not stop him if Loken deserved death.
• Perturabo admitted he had expected Lorgar to urge forgiveness, then accepted Lorgar’s judgment.
• Horus addressed the banquet guests and declared his commitment to lead the Great Crusade as Warmaster.
• Horus invited Lorgar to become Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Expeditionary Force.
• Lorgar was caught off guard as the hall turned its attention to him.

Lorgar accepted Horus’s appointment as Deputy Commander-in-Chief, while Horus saw the appointment as a way to strengthen his authority and secure the loyalty of Primarchs connected to Lorgar. After the banquet, Anna showed Lorgar mysterious coordinates on Terra and asked him to help find the place they pointed to.

• Horus offered Lorgar the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and Lorgar accepted on the condition that it was the Emperor’s will.
• Horus celebrated Lorgar’s acceptance and offered him an office beside the Warmaster’s command center aboard the Vengeful Spirit.
• Horus privately viewed Lorgar’s appointment as a way to stabilize Primarchs such as Angron and Curze, who listened to Lorgar but were not fully aligned with him.
• Anna caught up with Lorgar in the palace corridor and teased him about his new title.
• Anna revealed that she had forgotten the place she felt connected to, but still had its coordinates saved: 41°54′10″ north, 12°27′11″ east.
• Lorgar agreed to accompany Anna to investigate the coordinates on Terra.

Lorgar and Anna found the ruins of Thunderstone Church, where Lorgar recognized the site as the last church on Terra during the Emperor’s Unification Wars. They discovered the peaceful corpse of its chaplain, Uriah Olathaire, and Lorgar recounted how he had entered the church as it burned.

• Lorgar carried Anna to a ruined church at the coordinates and recognized its name as Thunderstone Church.
• Lorgar and Anna searched the fire-scarred ruins and uncovered a desiccated corpse with a serene expression.
• Lorgar identified the dead man as Uriah Olathaire, the church’s last chaplain and gravekeeper.
• Lorgar explained that the Emperor’s forces had burned the church to eradicate the old faiths.
• Lorgar recounted that Uriah had returned alone to the burning church and died inside without calling for help.

At Thunderstone Church, Lorgar told Anna that the ancient clock was prophesied to chime at humanity’s final hour, and Anna argued that violence could not erase faith without worsening the suffering that created it. Lorgar concluded that the Emperor’s attempt to replace faith with reason had begun humanity’s inner extinction; after they left, the clock’s minute hand moved backward slightly.

• Lorgar revealed that the clock had chimed when the Emperor’s forces burned Thunderstone Church and said it would chime again at humanity’s final hour.
• Anna explained that faith helped people endure suffering and that suppressing it through violence could turn despair into hatred.
• Lorgar agreed with Anna’s reasoning and said humanity may have taken its first step toward inner extinction when the Emperor tried to destroy faith with reason and violence.
• Lorgar left the ruins for the coordinates Anna had provided, and Anna followed him across the dried-out seabed.
• After they vanished, the clock’s minute hand moved backward by a tiny notch.

Lorgar and Anna reached the coordinates of an ancient site on Terra, where Anna uncovered fragments suggesting her consciousness began with Doctor Carlo long before her Dark Age of Technology body was made. Meanwhile, the Emperor recognized the source of Anna’s appearance in an ancient relief, though her origins remained uncertain.

• Lorgar brought Anna to a barren site on Terra, where she identified Doctor Carlo as a name linked to the coordinates and an early mission of hers.
• Anna explained that her original consciousness might predate the Dark Age of Technology, while her current body was created during that era, and she could not say whether she was a Man of Iron.
• The Emperor told Malcador that Anna’s appearance seemed familiar and led him to a hidden relief in the Imperial Palace.
• The Emperor recognized the woman depicted in the relief as the source of Anna’s current appearance, though he remained unable to determine the origin of her consciousness.

Lorgar and Anna found an ancient vault beneath a ruined church and recovered an ornate box labeled as the Most Holy Spear. When Lorgar opened it, the box was empty, leaving him demanding to know where the Spear of Longinus had gone.

• Anna pointed out a ruined church and told Lorgar that the Spear of Longinus had once been stored beneath it.
• Anna led Lorgar into the underground vault and used nanometal to open its sealed security door.
• Lorgar sensed a faint psychic echo in a small safe and used Psychic Energy to retrieve an ornate wooden box.
• Lorgar examined the box, opened it, and found only a spear-shaped depression in its lining.
• Lorgar demanded to know where the Spear of Longinus was.

Lorgar and Anna found the Wooden Box that had held the Spear of Longinus empty, but Anna uncovered a ragged cloth she identified as the Shroud of Turin. Lorgar’s touch produced no reaction, and he left convinced it was fake while Anna secretly pocketed it.

• Lorgar opened the Wooden Box and found the Spear of Longinus missing, while Anna explained that the relic could have been lost or stolen over the ages.
• Anna searched a dusty drawer and found an old linen cloth, which she called the Shroud of Turin.
• Anna teased Lorgar about wrapping himself in the shroud, then urged him to touch it; Lorgar reluctantly did so, but nothing happened.
• Lorgar inspected the cloth for an activation mechanism and rejected Anna’s suggestion that he test it by wounding himself and waiting to rise from the dead.
• Lorgar tossed the shroud back to Anna and left the vault, while Anna quietly tucked the cloth into her coat and followed him.

Lorgar returned to the Imperial Palace empty-handed after searching Terra’s ruins, only for the Emperor to tease him about his relationship with a female comrade. When Lorgar complained that someone had stolen the Spear of Longinus, the Emperor revealed that he had it.

• The Emperor teased Lorgar about his close relationship with a silver-haired, blue-eyed comrade, and Lorgar angrily insisted they were only comrades.
• Lorgar asked why the Emperor was away from his Webway work, and the Emperor said he was taking two days off.
• The Emperor offered Lorgar a reward if he called him “Father,” but Lorgar refused and called him an old man.
• Lorgar complained that someone had stolen the Spear of Longinus and left an empty box in the ruins.
• The Emperor revealed that he had the Spear of Longinus and asked Lorgar what he wanted it for.

Lorgar refused the Emperor’s demand to call him “Father,” despite the Emperor holding the Spear of Longinus Gun, and threatened to steal it instead. Before Lorgar left for the next day, the Emperor unexpectedly borrowed his Greatsword for the night and examined it closely.

• The Emperor offered to give Lorgar the Spear of Longinus Gun if he called him “Father.”
• Lorgar insulted the Emperor, rejected the bargain, and vowed to sneak into the collection vault to steal the weapon.
• The Emperor claimed he had forgotten where he put the Spear of Longinus Gun and challenged Lorgar to search his enormous Private Collection Vault.
• Lorgar said he was leaving tomorrow and complained about the Emperor’s constant psychic surveillance.
• The Emperor asked to borrow Lorgar’s Greatsword for the night, and Lorgar tossed it to him.
• The Emperor closely inspected the Greatsword and carried it away down the corridor as Lorgar headed to his quarters.

The Emperor reforged Lorgar’s sword in a secret forge, adding a forgotten relic to its blade before Malcador returned it to him at Terra’s starport. Lorgar departed without seeing the Emperor, leaving Malcador to watch his transport vanish with a sense of foreboding.

• Malcador remarked that the Emperor spoiled Lorgar as the Emperor placed Lorgar’s silver Greatsword into a powerful furnace.
• The Emperor melted three ancient silver nails and fused their substance into the Greatsword’s cutting edge, enhancing the weapon with new properties.
• Malcador brought the reforged sword to Lorgar at Terra’s starport, and Lorgar inspected its altered edge and accepted it.
• Lorgar asked whether the Emperor had come, then sent his regards after Malcador said the Emperor had returned to work in the Webway.
• Lorgar boarded his transport and departed Terra, while Malcador watched it disappear and felt a heavy foreboding.

Perturabo returned to Olympia and stormed into Dammekos's Palace, where he brutally incapacitated his adoptive father. He ordered Dammekos imprisoned, then embraced Calliphone and promised to help her put everything right.

• Perturabo marched through the Palace, smashing doors and obstacles as he headed for Dammekos's audience chamber.
• Perturabo broke into the chamber and punched Dammekos, leaving him alive but with bones shattered throughout his body.
• Perturabo ordered his Iron Warriors to take Dammekos to the deepest dungeon cell and keep others away from him.
• Perturabo softened when he saw Calliphone's distress, crouched to meet her, and returned her embrace.
• Perturabo told Calliphone he had returned and promised to help her put everything right.

Corax reached a lava planet in his search for the six ancient artifacts needed to resurrect Bella, carrying the power of the Mark of Chaos and the support of his loyal Raven Guard. Bella’s apparition identified the next artifact inside a beast-guarded ruin beneath the planet’s lava, and Corax resolved to retrieve it at any cost.

• Corax arrived at the lava planet after finding only the Mark of Chaos during his long search for the artifacts.
• Corax’s power had grown since joining with the Mark of Chaos, despite its whispers and the danger of spiritual corruption.
• Arcas Fal and a circle of loyal Raven Guard supported Corax’s quest, while Fal also remained a devoted supporter of Horus.
• Bella’s apparition told Corax that the Eye of Sherron was hidden in an ancient ruin at the planet’s core, inside a beast that fed on lava and flame.
• Corax declared that he would face the beast and the planet’s dangers to bring Bella back.

Corax descended alone onto a lava planet to find the Eye of Sherron, which could glimpse the future and was guarded by an ancient lava behemoth. He located the sleeping creature beneath the volcano’s magma lake and prepared to approach it, while the Chaos Star brand on his neck resonated with the surrounding fury.

• Corax forbade the Raven Guard, including Phall, from accompanying him and landed alone on the lava planet.
• Using his heightened senses, Corax detected the behemoth deep inside the planet’s largest volcano.
• Corax crossed the lethal volcanic terrain and reached the crater above the magma lake.
• Corax concealed himself at the crater’s edge and spotted the enormous behemoth sleeping beneath the magma.
• Corax realized the Eye of Sherron lay inside the behemoth and readied himself to move closer as his Chaos Star brand resonated.

Corax attacked a colossal lava beast in the crater, first wounding it with the Shadow Blade and then cutting off its fiery wings before relentlessly carving into its body. The beast remained alive, and Corax searched for an opening to deliver a final strike to its hidden core.

• The lava beast sensed Corax’s concealed presence, roared, and searched the crater until it began to retreat into the Magma.
• Corax emerged from the shadows and drove the Shadow Blade into the beast’s neck, wounding it but failing to reach its vital pathways.
• As the beast tried to take flight, Corax severed both fiery wings and sent it crashing back into the Magma.
• Corax darted around the beast and inflicted hundreds of wounds with the Shadow Blade while evading its counterattacks.
• Corax realized the beast’s core remained untouched and began studying its defenses for a precise killing blow.

Corax killed the lava beast and tore through its body to find the Eye of Sherron. He recovered the blue crystal from the beast’s stomach, overcome by the possibility of finally gaining the power to see.

• Corax struck the lava beast’s wounded abdomen, opened a huge gash, and fatally disemboweled it.
• Corax’s shadow blade melted from the beast’s heat and corrosive fluids, and the beast collapsed dead into the Magma.
• Corax searched the beast’s exposed organs with his bare hands until he found a tough stomach sac containing the remains of its digestion.
• Corax ripped open the stomach sac and spotted the Eye of Sherron, a blue crystal untouched by the surrounding heat and acid.
• Corax carefully touched the crystal and whispered, “Found it...”

Corax forced the Eye of Sherron into himself and experienced a torrent of possible futures, including a vision of himself and Bella standing beside Horus over burning Terra. He emerged knowing his next destination and the dangers and price ahead.

• Corax used the Mark of Chaos to overcome the Eye of Sherron's resistance and draw it into his body.
• The Eye overwhelmed Corax with visions of the galaxy burning, stars dying, and Horus commanding a corrupted force above Terra.
• Corax saw a future version of himself beside the resurrected Bella at Horus's side.
• The visions revealed fragments about Intres, the Nemesis Blade, and the artifacts' whereabouts, along with possible outcomes and costs.
• Corax recovered from the ordeal and realized he could not turn back and knew where he had to go next.

Lorgar lured a colossal creature into swallowing him, then destroyed it from within with his silver greatsword. Back aboard the Law of Faith, he learned that the Word Bearers' Chapter Masters had gathered and went to meet them.

• Lorgar waited on an asteroid for a gigantic creature lurking in the asteroid field to attack.
• Lorgar charged into the creature's mouth and tore apart its organs and life-sustaining core from within.
• The creature's enormous body disintegrated into a silent graveyard in the void.
• Lorgar returned to the Law of Faith, where Anna told him the Word Bearers' surviving Chapter Masters were waiting in the meeting room.
• Lorgar changed direction and headed for the Legion's council chamber.

Lorgar convened the Word Bearers’ thirteen Chapter Masters and assigned the Legion’s second Gloriana-class Battleship to Rockefeller. He then turned the meeting toward the enemies the Legion had faced or would soon encounter.

• Lorgar entered the strategic conference room as the thirteen Chapter Masters assembled to hear his orders.
• Lorgar announced that he would address the Legion’s second Gloriana-class Battleship.
• Lorgar asked Rockefeller whether he could command the ship, and Rockefeller vowed not to fail him.
• Lorgar appointed Rockefeller commander of the Gloriana-class Battleship Herald of the Holy Word.
• Lorgar began discussing the enemies the Word Bearers had encountered or would soon face.

Lorgar revealed to the Chapter Masters that the mysterious enemy attacking the Word Bearers was Daemons from the Warp, then explained how the Legion must resist them. He ordered commanders entering dangerous regions to carry the Lectitio Divinitatus and rely on emotional discipline and faith in the Emperor.

• Lorgar told the Chapter Masters that Daemons had attacked the Legion across several distant campaigns and missions.
• The Chapter Masters reacted with shock, then accepted Lorgar’s revelation and reaffirmed their readiness to fight.
• Rockefeller asked Lorgar what the Legion should do, and Lorgar explained that Daemons came from the Warp and preyed on emotions.
• Lorgar warned the Chapter Masters to control their emotions and defend their minds with calm and self-discipline.
• Lorgar had Hercules place the Lectitio Divinitatus on the conference table and ordered mission commanders facing Daemons or Warp influence to carry it.
• Lorgar urged the Chapter Masters to use faith in the Emperor and the scripture’s prayers to anchor their wills and resist corruption.

Lorgar established strict limits on the Word Bearers’ use of psychic energy and planned a specialized force to combat Daemons. After the strategic meeting shifted to informal exchanges, he left the Chapter Masters and returned alone to his private chamber.

• Lorgar said the Legion would neither encourage nor entirely prohibit psychic energy, allowing it only as a controlled military weapon with high-level approval.
• Lorgar tasked Rockefeller and the others with developing regulations for Librarian selection, training, and combat authorization.
• Lorgar decided to establish an elite Anti-Daemon Force trained to resist Warp corruption and equipped to fight Daemons.
• Lorgar invited the Chapter Masters to exchange news from their defense zones, then left Hercules and Rockefeller to oversee the meeting.
• Lorgar walked through the Law of Faith and returned alone to his private chamber.

Lorgar recognized the blue creatures Guilliman had sent him as possible ancestors of the T'au Empire and decided to investigate their homeworld. Anna questioned the familiar principles in his Lectitio Divinitatus, but Lorgar left her to return to his desk.

• Anna told Lorgar that Guilliman had sent a tank of blue aquatic creatures found on a remote Savage Planet.
• Lorgar studied the creatures and suspected they were ancestors of the T'au Empire.
• Anna criticized the eight principles in Lorgar's Lectitio Divinitatus and asked whether he had copied them from the distant past.
• Lorgar decided to give the creatures a larger habitat and have Rockefeller investigate their planet's coordinates and fate.

Ferrus Manus oversaw a vast weapons factory producing hundreds of thousands of heavy combat robots and secretly deployed them to frontier war zones. His greatest focus was refining a Mechanical Virus that could convert organic life into controlled machines, especially by giving it a dormant incubation period for covert strategic attacks.

• Ferrus Manus transformed the Iron Hands flagship’s hold into an enormous automated weapons factory.
• The factory produced hundreds of thousands of towering combat robots, many of which Ferrus Manus secretly sent to active frontier war zones for testing.
• Ferrus Manus concentrated his research on a Mechanical Virus that converted infected organisms into mechanical slaves under his control.
• During the Ullanor war, Ferrus Manus released the virus against an Ork force, causing infected Orks to attack their own kind and collapsing the enemy’s charge.
• Ferrus Manus recognized that the virus’s immediate effects exposed its use and could threaten friend and foe alike.
• Ferrus Manus worked to create a variant that remained dormant and symptomless until activated by an external signal.

Loken observed the Word Bearers stationed aboard the Vengeful Spirit and noted the differing views of the Luna Wolves’ senior officers. Impressed by one Word Bearer’s swordsmanship, Loken stepped forward to discover who he was.

• Loken watched two Word Bearers duel in the Vengeful Spirit’s training ground.
• The chapter described how Loken, Torgaddon, Brutus, and Aximand each viewed the Word Bearers’ growing presence aboard the flagship.
• A Word Bearer defeated his opponent with a precise parry and thrust, impressing Loken with his skill and control.
• Loken left his place by the wall and approached the victor to learn who he was.

Loken met Henry, a cheerful Word Bearers warrior whose youthful appearance contradicted Loken’s expectations of a hardened veteran. Henry showed off his master-crafted sword and revealed that he had fought in the Rangdan Xenocides and helped slay a Rangdan Warmaster.

• Loken approached the Word Bearers warrior and imagined him as a grim, scarred veteran before the warrior removed his helmet.
• Henry introduced himself as the Son of the Blacksmith and greeted Loken warmly, mentioning that his Company Captain, Comius, had spoken about him.
• Henry drew his master-crafted Power Sword and proudly showed its workmanship to Loken.
• Henry told Loken that he had fought in the Rangdan Xenocides and, with help from his squadmates, slain a Rangdan Warmaster.