Chapter Summaries

Ulthwé brought Zoey of the Ashen Claws to meet Lox and Guilliman, warning them that a powerful Greenskin Ork empire had risen in the Ghoul Stars. As they prepared to confront the threat, Trazyn revealed how the ancient Aeldari had betrayed the Old Ones during the War in Heaven.

• Lox learned that Ulthwé had arrived aboard the Malicious Claw, an ancient Raven Guard ship carrying Ashen Claws from the Ghoul Stars.
• At Ganymede, Iron Men subdued the Ashen Claws after one warrior fired on them, and Ulthwé escorted Zoey to meet Lox and Guilliman.
• Zoey reported that the Orks had overwhelmed the Ashen Claws, killed Natra Kelin, and grown into a major threat; Guilliman forgave the Chapter's secession and promised resources to rebuild it.
• Lox, Guilliman, Ulthwé, and Trazyn concluded that a vast Greenskin Ork empire had risen in the Ghoul Stars, possibly surpassing Ullanor.
• Trazyn warned that the Bone Kingdom of Drazak was entrenched in the Ghoul Stars and recounted how the ancient Aeldari sealed the Webway before the Old Ones and their allies had fully retreated, helping the Necrons defeat them.

Trazyn revealed that the ancient Aeldari had betrayed the Old Ones and their allies, and Eldrad Uthlan accepted his ancestors’ guilt while pledging to atone. The group planned to counter the Krork threat, but Guilliman learned that his missing brothers had been causing havoc in the Webway.

• Trazyn recounted how the ancient Aeldari sealed the Webway gates, abandoned the Old Ones, and helped the Necrons destroy the C’tan, while the Necrons cursed the ancient Orks into devolution.
• Eldrad Uthlan admitted the Aeldari ancestors’ betrayal, revealed that he had uncovered the truth, and vowed to spend his life atoning for their crimes.
• Lox, Trazyn, Uthlan, and Guilliman agreed to cooperate against the Krork: Uthlan would seek contact with the Krork, Trazyn would request Necron forces, and Guilliman would prepare humanity for war.
• Guilliman asked Uthlan about Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai, who had entered the Webway, and Uthlan identified them as the likely human raiders attacking Aeldari throughout it, including Commorragh.

Guilliman learned that Lion, Leman Russ, and Jaghatai Khan were fighting the Drukhari in the Webway while searching for the Heart of Pestilence, and he ordered the Imperium to mobilize after confirming the Ghoul Stars had fallen to the Greenskin Orks. As forces gathered for war, Lox left Terra for the front, and he and Guilliman shared a photograph before parting.

• Guilliman and Ulthwé discussed the three Primarchs in the Webway, and Guilliman asked Ulthwé to tell them to return because the Imperium faced the Krork threat.
• Leman Russ explained that he, Lion, and Jaghatai Khan had entered the Webway to find and destroy the Heart of Pestilence, then led the Space Wolves onward against the Drukhari.
• Guilliman showed the High Lords recordings of the Greenskin Orks conquering the Ghoul Stars and declared total war, securing the Imperium's military support and help from the Aeldari and Necrons.
• The Imperium began mobilizing its forces across the galaxy, and Lox told Guilliman he was leaving for the Ghoul Stars to coordinate the war effort.
• Guilliman and Lox took a new photograph together before Lox departed for the front.

Lox coordinated Imperial and Necron preparations to contain the Ork empire emerging from the Ghoul Stars, while warning Trazyn that Chaos would exploit the Imperium’s redeployment. He reached Nostramo to seek the Night Lords’ cooperation, but War Sage Macarion challenged Terra’s authority until Lox offered news of Curze and a token from him.

• Lox arranged for Trazyn’s Necron fleet to attack from the Obscurus Sector and chose Nostramo as a forward base for the campaign.
• Lox sent Auguston to Macragge to coordinate the Five Hundred Worlds’ forces, and Auguston described the territorial dispute between the Ultramarines and the Night Lords.
• Auguston returned to Macragge while Lox led a fleet toward Nostramo, warning Trazyn that Chaos would hinder Imperial reinforcements and exploit the weakened rear.
• Lox’s fleet reached the Nostramo system and was met by Night Lords cruisers led by War Sage Macarion.
• Macarion challenged Lox’s claim to bring Terra’s will, and Lox offered news of Curze and a token he had received from him.

Lox reunited with the Night Lords on Nostramo, proving he had news of Konrad Curze and explaining that Curze and Sevatar were safe and leading a new Legion. After confronting the Eighth Legion about its refusal of the Primaris upgrade and its underpreparedness for the Krork-led Ork threat, Lox won their cooperation and prepared to change Nostramo.

• Lox showed Macarion Curze's flaying knife, convincing the Night Lords that he knew their missing primarch, and descended to Nostramo with Trazyn.
• Lox told Macarion, Shen, and Talos that Curze and Sevatar had survived and were organizing a new Legion, prompting Talos to question why Sevatar remained with Curze while they did not.
• At the Midnight Court, Lox rebuked the Night Lords for rejecting the Primaris upgrade and underestimating the Orks, then revealed that Sevatar and Curze's new Legion had already adopted the upgrade.
• Macarion agreed to have the Eighth Legion undergo the Primaris upgrade and admitted that the Night Lords feared the Imperium's mobilization might conceal a purge like the betrayal at Isstvan III.
• Lox turned to planning the defense against the Orks and announced that he would first make changes to Nostramo.

Lox secured the Night Lords’ commitment to the war against the Ghoul Ork Empire and made Nostramo the main frontline, with Makarion placing the Legion under his command. Lox began transforming the sector into a military hub and purging Nostramo’s corrupt society, leaving the planet’s nobles slaughtered and its rescued citizens hopeful for a new beginning.

• Lox outlined a defensive strategy against the Ghoul Ork Empire, assembling forces from several Legions, Necrons, and Aeldari while warning against underestimating the enemy.
• Makarion agreed to place the Night Lords’ forces under Lox’s command and accepted Nostramo’s role as the frontline fortress.
• Lox expanded Nostramo’s spaceports and orbital stations to support the arriving Imperial fleet and began moving the planet’s impoverished population to safe work and housing.
• The Night Lords and their mortal auxilia evacuated lower-hive residents, screened them for serious crimes, and transported those who passed to orbital stations.
• When Nostramo’s nobles challenged the evacuations, Macarion ordered the Night Lords to arrest and execute the corrupt aristocracy after psychic examinations.
• The purges killed the planet’s ruling nobles, and rescued Nostramans celebrated their downfall as Nostramo’s chance for a new dawn.

Damien accompanied Erlin Duke back to Nostramo, unaware that the supposed fellow worker planned to sacrifice him to the Silverglow Fateweaver. When the entity revealed Damien as the offspring of a cursed one, Damien transformed into a towering armored giant and confronted it.

• Damien and Erlin Duke left Teneus Orbital Station to search for Erlin's family in Nostramo's abandoned hive city.
• Erlin revealed that he was the surviving heir of the purged Duke family and intended to use the Silverglow Fateweaver to restore his family's power.
• Erlin led Damien into the hidden psychic chamber beneath the Duke estate and tried to sacrifice him on the Loom of Fate.
• The Silverglow Fateweaver appeared and recognized Damien as the offspring of a cursed one, warning Erlin that he had brought the wrong sacrifice.
• Damien broke free, destroyed the Duke family's divine relic, and transformed into a three-meter armored giant wielding a spear.

Omegon revealed that he had impersonated Damien for ten years and killed Erling while exposing the Silver Weaver of Fate as Kairos Fateweaver. He trapped Kairos with Blackstone and a forged daemon-name book to learn about the Well of Eternity, then left Kairos furious and the Duke estate in ruins.

• Omegon revealed his identity and explained that he had replaced Damien after the boy died, then killed Erling with the Pale Spear.
• Omegon identified the Silver Weaver of Fate as Kairos Fateweaver, and Alpha Legionnaires raised a Blackstone field that cut Kairos off from the Warp.
• Omegon used a book of daemon true names to frighten Kairos into revealing what it knew about the Well of Eternity.
• Omegon and the Alpha Legionnaires withdrew, and Kairos discovered that the book contained only part of its true name and had been used to deceive it.
• Kairos escaped through a Warp rift after destroying the Duke estate, while Night Lords sealed the ruins and considered notifying Lord Lox.

Lox investigated signs of a Tzeentch daemon on Nostramo, then ordered the planet’s surface bombarded and rebuilt into a fortified mobile war world. As Salamanders reinforcements led by Vulkan approached, Lox prepared to test the Ghoul Ork Empire.

• Lox and Talos traced the daemon’s appearance to the vanished Erling Duke and Damien, while Lox suspected that an unknown figure had fought the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.
• Lox ordered the Night Lords and their mortal auxiliaries to withdraw, then an elder deceived Nostramo’s criminal leaders with a false escape plan and killed them to harvest their souls.
• Lox unleashed more than a hundred warships to bombard Nostramo, destroying its old cities and killing the criminals who remained on the planet.
• Lox reshaped Nostramo with asteroids, new oceans, and a renewed atmosphere, then built cities, defenses, and planet-scale weapons to turn it into a mobile battle planet.
• Makarion reported that Greenskin Ork scout ships had entered the Ghoul Stars and that about a quarter of the Night Lords would complete Primaris conversion before war began.
• Shen announced that the Salamanders Legion and Vulkan would reach the Nostramo system in three solar days, and Lox prepared to launch a probing attack against the Ghoul Ork Empire.

Vulkan arrived at Nostramo with the Salamanders fleet, and he and Lox discussed the Primaris technology and the looming war. When Ulan Huda approached claiming to flee the Orks, Lox and Vulkan suspected a trap and ordered the Imperial fleet to attack, exposing Greenskin forces hidden inside the forge world.

• Vulkan arrived at Nostramo seven days after sending his message, and Lox welcomed him at the Night Lords' fortress-monastery.
• Vulkan told Lox that the Salamanders had begun adopting Space Bridge and Primaris technologies, and Lox reunited with Tassa, now the Legion's Chief Apothecary.
• An alarm announced that the mobile forge world Ulan Huda had translated from the Ghoul Stars and was approaching Nostramo.
• Ulan Huda's representative requested safe passage in exchange for intelligence, but Vulkan and Lox suspected the forge world concealed an Ork trap and ordered Admiral Raeder to attack.
• Imperial warships bombarded Ulan Huda until its core revealed a powerful Ork barrier and junk warships emerged from the wreckage.

Human forces destroyed a Greenskin Ork fleet after uncovering the Waaagh Gate hidden in Ulan Huda, while Bloodhowl Zakk resolved to study humanity after his Trojan Horse plan failed. The chapter left Zakk newly blessed by Mork and determined to build an Ork civilization that learned from its enemies.

• Vulkan and Lox discovered that Orks had infiltrated Ulan Huda and opened a Waaagh Gate, and Grand Admiral Raeder coordinated the human fleets against the arriving Ork armada.
• Vulkan placed the Salamanders fleet under Raeder's command, and human battle lines surrounded the Orks while Sigismund and the Black Templars repelled boarding assaults.
• The fourth battle line destroyed the Waaagh Gate, and Raeder ordered the remaining Ork ships annihilated and their wreckage cleared.
• Vulkan and Lox assessed the threat posed by the Orks' vast forces and discussed the need for reinforcements as the wider war spread.
• Bloodhowl Zakk brooded over his failed Ulan Huda deception, concluded that he needed to understand human tactics and history, and received Mork's blessing.
• Zakk declared that the Greenskin Orks should create their own civilization and learn from other races.

Bloodhowl Zack began reshaping the Greenskin Orks by recruiting talented thinkers and adapting human systems of command, economics, and warfare. He appointed Edison as finance minister and Schwarzenegger as an infiltrator warlord, sending him to Skullcrusher Star to prepare attacks behind human lines.

• Bloodhowl Zack held back his forces while calling for Orks of every rank and clan to present ideas for reforming Ork society.
• Edison proposed companies, wages, quotas, and performance evaluations, and Zack appointed him finance minister and acting interior minister.
• Schwarzenegger argued for human military strategy and guerrilla warfare, including raising Ork forces behind human lines.
• Zack named Schwarzenegger Blood Axe Fang Schwarzenegger, promoted him to Infiltrator Warlord, and gave him Skullcrusher Star to train an elite assault force.
• Zack continued selecting Ork generals and specialists, overturning the old promotion system and transforming Greenskin society.

Lox’s Imperial forces launched an assault on Skullcrusher, the Ork bridgehead, after Sigismund laid out a plan to defeat its defenders. The human fleet destroyed the Ork ships and battered the planet with orbital weapons, and Astartes drop pods descended to hunt the surviving warlords.

• Lox assembled Imperial reinforcements and ordered an assault on Skullcrusher, while Zoe accepted thousands of Primaris replacements for the Ashen Claws.
• At a war council aboard the Nightfall, Zoe described the Orks’ vast numbers and warned that their warlords were protected; Sigismund outlined a plan to crush their fleet, bombard the planet, and hunt their leader.
• Sigismund led the Imperial expeditionary force to Skullcrusher and provoked the Orks into a void battle, then destroyed their warships over three days.
• The human fleet bombarded the planet until the Orks’ Waaagh! shield contracted, then dropped Life-Eater virus bombs that killed billions but left survivors in underground shelters.
• As the virus-induced firestorm burned across Skullcrusher, Imperial drop pods descended to search the planet for Ork warlords.

Zoe infiltrated Skullcrusher’s underground Ork strongholds and discovered that the Greenskins had developed an organized society that trained and evolved its warriors through combat and propaganda. He also found Catachan fighters captured by the Blood Axe Clan, who had recruited Rambo to train their Boyz in a replica jungle; the chapter ended as Rambo and Yaitelong led the trainees into the lethal forest.

• Zoe and the other Astartes infiltrated Skullcrusher’s underground passages to map Ork bases and search for the warlord and WAAAGH Gate.
• Zoe observed Orks fighting, recovering through Painboy treatments, and evolving under the influence of propaganda performances and organized training.
• Zoe spotted captured human soldiers and recognized them as Catachan Jungle Fighters, including Rambo, whom the Blood Axe Clan had asked to train its Boyz.
• Rambo agreed to train the Orks after Yaitelong showed him a vast underground jungle modeled on Catachan and filled with copied dangers from his home world.
• Rambo laid out a survival course in the fungal jungle, then he and his comrades disappeared into it as Yaitelong sent the Blood Axe Boyz after them.

Zoe observed the Blood Axe Orks’ disastrous training in the Ork-made Catachan jungle and learned that their leaders were reforming the Greenskin Empire. After Rambo arranged support for human prisoners, Zoe coordinated with Talos Soul Hunter to deliver their intelligence and penetrate the Orks’ heartland.

• Zoe followed the Blood Axe trainees into the lethal jungle, where plants and predators killed most of their squad while Rambo watched and maneuvered them toward further dangers.
• Rambo and Yaitelon discussed the Orks’ training program and the empire-wide reform led by Boss Kork, Ork Warlord Bloodhowl Zak, and Warlord Blood Axe Blade Schwarzenegger.
• Rambo decided the Catachans would stay, train the Orks, and seek a chance to coordinate with human forces; he requested weapons, supplies, and the transfer of other human prisoners.
• Rambo loudly repeated the intelligence he had learned, and Zoe realized the Catachan had sensed his presence and was trying to help him pass the information outside.
• Zoe reviewed the missing intelligence about the Ork warlord and Waaagh gate, then proposed that the infiltrators gather, send their findings, and push into the Orks’ heartland.
• Talos Soul Hunter agreed to Zoe’s plan to deliver the intelligence first and then penetrate the Greenskin Orks’ territory.

Eldrad Uslan traveled to Skullcrusher to persuade the Greenskin Orks to cooperate with the Aeldari against humanity and the Necrons. He won Schwarzenegger’s agreement to take him through the Waaagh Gate to meet Boss Zack, while privately planning to infiltrate Kork’s inner circle and help humanity kill him.

• Eldrad Uslan and Lerial Lei arrived at the bombarded Skullcrusher and entered the Orks’ underground city to seek an audience with their leaders.
• Uslan gave a Greenskin sentry a wraithbone choppa, and the Ork led him to Schwarzenegger.
• Uslan argued that the Aeldari and Orks should cooperate, then warned Schwarzenegger that the Nihilakh Dynasty had joined humanity’s war against the Great Waaagh.
• Schwarzenegger agreed to take Uslan and Lerial through the Waaagh Gate to meet Boss Zack, while remaining behind to defend Skullcrusher.
• As they entered the Waaagh Gate, Uslan told Lerial he intended to earn Kork’s trust and gather intelligence that could create an opportunity for humanity to kill the ancient Ork.

Uslan and Lerial arrived at Bloodhowl Zack’s stronghold to negotiate an alliance between the Aeldari and the Orks, only to find Abaddon already courting the warlord. Abaddon proposed exposing Guilliman’s role in founding the Second Imperium to destabilize the Imperium, leaving Zack to weigh the competing offers.

• Uslan and Lerial passed through the Ork waaagh gate and met List Silvertongue, who told them that Chaos envoys had arrived before them.
• List identified the Chaos delegation as Abaddon, Erebus, and Iskandar Khayon, and Uslan decided against provoking them while the Aeldari and Chaos forces met Zack.
• Abaddon told Zack that the Black Legion had released Koruk from the Solemnas Tomb World, then Zack challenged Abaddon and invited both delegations to compete for his support.
• Uthlan proposed an Aeldari-Ork alliance, offering intelligence and Webway access to help the Orks strike across the galaxy.
• Abaddon argued that the Aeldari could not unite and proposed exploiting the Imperium’s internal divisions by revealing Guilliman’s part in establishing the Second Imperium.

Abaddon persuaded Bloodhowl Zack to use Greenskin Orks and Aeldari channels to spread rumors that Guilliman and other Primarchs had betrayed the Emperor, while secretly pursuing the Emperor’s death and the Dark King’s awakening. The rumors reached Macragge, where the Ultramarines destroyed the Ork raiders only after their broadcasts had spread, leaving Guilliman caught in a political crisis.

• Abaddon convinced Bloodhowl Zack that the Orks should spread the Second Imperium rumors during the Imperium’s wartime turmoil, and Zack declared the Orks, Aeldari, and Chaos forces allies.
• Erebus argued with Uslan about the Warp, while Abaddon revealed that his true goal was to kill the Emperor and awaken the Dark King.
• Uslan returned to Skullcrusher and worked with Schwarzenegger to assemble Evil Sunz bikers and Blood Axe infiltrators for the rumor-spreading mission.
• Uslan led Orks through the Webway toward Macragge while other squads dispersed to worlds across the Imperium.
• The Evil Sunz broadcast claims that Guilliman was a hidden traitor and that the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, and Blood Angels had betrayed the Emperor.
• Lamiad ordered the Ultramarines to silence the broadcasts and destroy the Orks, but the rumors had already spread, drawing Guilliman into a political crisis.

Greenskin Orks exposed Guilliman’s secret Second Imperium across the galaxy, stirring public debate and giving his political enemies an opening. On Holy Terra, a vast religious protest demanded answers, and Guilliman went to confront its leader, Bishop Aelfreda.

• Orks spread news of the Second Imperium across human worlds, and Lamiad found that most Ultramarans supported Guilliman and rallied to the war effort.
• Vulkan learned from Lox that Guilliman had established the Second Imperium as a contingency during the Ruinstorm, but they lacked witnesses who could publicly confirm the Emperor had forgiven him.
• Navigator Ambassador Alicia encouraged her allies to exploit the scandal, while hundreds of thousands of Terrans gathered to demand an explanation from Guilliman.
• Guilliman discovered that Bishop Aelfreda Ya had led the protest and refused to suppress the crowd before the facts were clear.
• Guilliman arrived at Victory Avenue and walked toward Aelfreda and the crowd to answer their demands.

Guilliman admitted that the Second Empire had existed, but Elfreda and the crowd were manipulated into treating him as a traitor and driving him from Terra. He returned to the Stormbird for Macragge while Christine urged Elfreda to seize power and turn against the Primarchs and their Legions.

• Guilliman faced Elfreda and confirmed that he, Lion, and Sanguinius had created the Second Empire as a contingency when they feared the Imperium had fallen.
• Elfreda and the crowd condemned Guilliman, while an unseen voice reinforced her suspicions and dismissed his explanations.
• Guilliman grew bitter at humanity’s ingratitude, turned away, and left Terra for Macragge with the Ultramarines.
• Christine encouraged Elfreda to expose the other Primarchs, take control of the Sisters of Battle, and win the High Lords’ support.
• Elfreda accepted Christine’s supposed revelations and agreed that they should seize control of the military.