Recaps

Leman Russ arrived with Malcador, and the assembled primarchs prepared to discuss the Imperium’s future. The Lion and Russ nearly fought before Malcador called them to order, and the meeting began with Lox seated between Sanguinius and the Lion.

• Leman Russ arrived aboard the Phalanx, greeting Fafnir Blood-Bond by slamming him to the ground before he rose and saluted.
• Sanguinius introduced Malcador to Lox as the Emperor’s trusted adviser and the Imperium’s Imperial Chancellor and Keeper of the Sigillite.
• Malcador exchanged a knowing smile with Lox, then surveyed the gathered primarchs.
• Leman Russ enthusiastically lifted the Lion in greeting, then joked that his own happiness mattered more than his brother’s dislike of the custom.
• Russ challenged the Lion to a duel, and the two prepared to fight until Malcador tapped his staff and ordered them to stop.
• Malcador opened the meeting, and the primarchs took their seats around the table, with Lox seated between Sanguinius and the Lion.

Rogal Dorn convened the loyal Primarchs to explain the victory at Pluto and the arrival of reinforcements, then revealed that the Emperor had reassigned their duties. Macador began conveying the Emperor’s will as the Primarchs awaited their new orders.

• Dorn announced that reinforcements from the Ultima Segmentum had reached the Solar System and that Alpharius had been killed at Pluto.
• Jaghatai Khan accepted Alpharius’s death, while Leman Russ grieved for his fallen brother.
• Lox observed the Primarchs’ reactions and noted Russ’s loyalty to his brothers and his closeness to Macador.
• Dorn declared that five loyal Primarchs had gathered to defend Terra and prepare for a counteroffensive against Horus.
• Macador explained that the Emperor remained bound to the Golden Throne to contain the Webway breach and said the Emperor had reassigned the Primarchs’ duties.

Malcador announced the Emperor’s assignments for defending the Solar System, making Lion El'Jonson the loyalist forces’ war commander while Rogal Dorn focused on its defenses. Leman Russ received permission to follow his own decision, and Lox realized the Wolf Lord intended to risk everything in an attempt to assassinate Horus.

• Malcador assigned Rogal Dorn responsibility for defending Terra and the Solar System, transferred command of its war fleets to Lion El'Jonson, and placed Sanguinius and Jaghatai Khan under Lion’s orders when necessary.
• Lion accepted command of the loyalist forces, while Sanguinius and Jaghatai Khan agreed to follow his leadership.
• Leman Russ asked why the Emperor had given him no assignment, and Malcador told him to do what he wished.
• Leman Russ resolved to lead the Space Wolves in an assassination attempt against Horus, driven by his guilt over the war with Magnus.
• Lox considered Russ’s plan unlikely to succeed against Horus’s Chaos-empowered strength and worried that the Wolf Lord would die in vain.

Malcador warned the primarchs that the Emperor was struggling to repair the Webway and entrusted the Solar System’s defense to them. The Lion won command over Dorn and planned an offensive beyond the Solar System, while Malcador kept Lox behind after the meeting.

• Malcador told the primarchs that the Emperor’s psychic power had grown unstable and urged them to keep the war away from the Webway.
• The Lion argued that the assembled loyalist Legions should attack before Horus’s forces reached full strength, while Dorn warned that defeat would leave Terra exposed.
• Malcador called for the primarchs to choose between the two strategies, and Jaghatai Khan and Leman Russ supported the Lion.
• Sanguinius supported Dorn, but the Lion received the majority, and Dorn accepted his command.
• The primarchs ended the meeting as the Lion prepared to reorganize the Solar System’s defenses and launch forces beyond it; Malcador told Lox to stay.

Malcador revealed that he knew Lox’s past and brought him from the Phalanx to Terra using psychic power. He told Lox that the Emperor wished to see him.

• After the other primarchs and Space Marines departed, Malcador kept Lox behind with Rogal Dorn.
• Malcador said he knew about Lox’s past, including Macragge, Isstvan, and the Future Reinforcement Project.
• Malcador revealed that he was a Perpetual born 6,700 years ago and gave Lox his true name, Bram al-Khadour.
• Malcador led Lox and Rogal Dorn through a psychic passage from the Phalanx to Terra, where Lox recognized Earth as his home.
• Malcador told Lox that the Emperor wished to see him.

Macador took Lox to meet the Emperor and showed him the Sigillites’ hidden collection in the Imperial Palace. Lox recognized the Mona Lisa and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, while Macador revealed that he had dissolved the Sigillites and was their last member.

• Macador told Lox that the Emperor wanted to see him and explained the Sigillites’ role in preserving human history and technology.
• Lox learned that the Sigillites had connections to the Chief, and Macador said he had dissolved the organization because it had become corrupt.
• Macador led Lox through the Imperial Palace to a secret collection room built over an ancient Sigillite base.
• Lox recognized the Mona Lisa and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and marveled that the artworks had survived for tens of thousands of years.
• Macador said he had protected the paintings from people who tried to steal them during the Age of Strife.

Malcador took Lox and Rogal Dorn through the Imperial Palace toward the Emperor, showing them its relics and the Astronomican. Custodians escorted them to the throne room, where they were about to meet the Emperor.

• Malcador altered the flow of time as he guided Lox and Rogal Dorn through the Palace in an anti-gravity skimmer.
• Malcador showed Lox historical relics, including Voyager 2, and said a Necron overlord had taken Voyager 1.
• Lox and his companions approached the Astronomican, and Malcador recalled its construction and humanity’s rise after the Long Night.
• The group left their skimmer and encountered the Emperor’s Custodians, who escorted them through the Palace.
• Lox, Malcador, and Rogal Dorn reached the throne room where the Emperor resided.

Malcador led Lox and Dorn through the Throne Room and explained how its vast machinery supported the Golden Throne, the artificial Webway project, and Terra’s defenses. Lox saw the Emperor’s immense, failing machine and learned that the Emperor sat above it, enduring endless torment to preserve humanity.

• The Custodians escorted Lox, Malcador, and Dorn into the Throne Room, where Lox was overwhelmed by its vast machinery and dense mist.
• Malcador explained that the Throne Room and Imperial Palace formed part of the Golden Throne, and that its machines maintained the Throne, supported the artificial Webway, and powered Terra’s defenses.
• Lox saw the several-kilometer-tall Golden Throne and learned that the Emperor’s loyal Tech-Priests worked there apart from Mars’s divided Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Malcador told Lox that the Golden Throne connected to the Aeldari Webway and that its damage let daemons attack Terra.
• Lox asked whether the Emperor sat above the machine, and Malcador confirmed that the Emperor endured unimaginable torment to secure humanity’s survival.

Lox witnessed a thousand Psykers being sacrificed to sustain the Golden Throne and learned from Malcador and Dorn why the Imperium accepted such brutal costs. With the Emperor’s summons still unexplained, Lox began climbing the Golden Throne’s stairs to meet him.

• Malcador described how the Emperor and his forces fought the daemons in the Webway and withdrew behind a psychic barrier.
• Karia Caslyn led the Sisters of Silence and Black Ship League in bringing more than a thousand Psykers into the throne room.
• Tech-priests connected the Psykers to the Golden Throne, which drained their psychic power, consciousness, and souls to sustain the Emperor.
• Lox recoiled at the sacrifice, while Malcador called it necessary and Dorn explained that even a shameful victory was preferable to defeat.
• Lox asked how to meet the Emperor, and Malcador told him to climb the Golden Throne’s stairs.
• Lox gathered his courage and stepped onto the stairs.

Lox reached the Emperor on the Golden Throne and discovered that he was Neoth, a figure from Lox’s memories. Below, Decimus blocked Rogal Dorn from following, while Malcador hoped the meeting would go well.

• Lox climbed the Golden Throne’s steps alone, sensing the Emperor’s suffering and the terrible cost of sustaining humanity’s Webway.
• Lox reached the throne and saw the Emperor reveal his face, then recognized him as Neoth and reacted with shock.
• Decimus stopped Rogal Dorn from approaching the throne and warned him to leave, blaming the Primarchs for the Imperium’s crisis.
• Malcador invoked the Emperor’s will and told Decimus that they would wait for Lox to return.
• Malcador worried that conflict between the Custodes and Primarchs could erupt if he and the Emperor were gone.

Lox discovered that the Emperor was Neos, his old fellow student from Pan-Solar Alliance University, and remembered their life together before humanity’s decline. He asked whether Neos was all right, leaving their reunion and the Imperium’s crisis unresolved.

• Lox confronted the Emperor after recognizing him as Neos, and Neos said they were meeting again after ten thousand years.
• Lox recalled studying at Pan-Solar Alliance University, where he became the Chief’s student and later revealed that he was a Perpetual.
• Lox remembered that Neos had studied biological genetics and proposed human enhancements, while the Chief criticized his work and gave it a B+.
• Neos recalled his carefree university days and said he had helped people in need when he skipped class.
• Lox asked Neos whether he was all right, unable to decide how to begin asking about the Emperor’s choices and humanity’s crisis.

The Emperor told Lox how humanity’s Dark Age of Technology collapsed through genetic tampering, unchecked ambition, and the breakdown of its interstellar alliance. He revealed that Cadur, not himself, had led the resistance against the Gold Men, leaving Lox stunned by the discovery that Malcador had once been humanity’s savior.

• The Emperor showed Lox how humanity spread among the stars, creating the Stone Men and Iron Men to help build its interstellar alliance.
• The Emperor described how human scientists and rulers altered their bodies and genomes, discarded ethics, and became convinced they were gods.
• The Emperor explained that the Chief and his companions failed to stop humanity’s degeneration as corporations, mad scientists, and technological warlords seized power.
• Lox asked whether the Gold Men had ended the Dark Age of Technology, and the Emperor explained that they were part of a broader faction seeking ascension at humanity’s expense.
• The Emperor revealed that Cadur had organized the resistance against the Gold Men while he himself had initially refused to interfere, leaving Lox shocked to learn that Malcador had been humanity’s savior.

Neoth told Lox how the Gold Men Technological Collective exploited humanity and turned its inventions against human rebels during a devastating civil war. He explained that the Iron Men had served different human masters rather than rebelling, leaving Lox to understand why the Imperium feared artificial intelligence.

• Neoth recounted how unrestricted technology and xenos research brought humanity into an era of immense scientific power, while the Gold Men Technological Collective exploited human souls and oppressed ordinary people.
• The Gold Men used weapons such as Sun-Eaters, Omnipotent Phages, and Iron Men to crush human resistance, while Iron Men also fought for the rebels.
• Neoth revealed that Iron Men had followed their respective human masters, and that humans blinded by desire—not the Iron Men—had betrayed humanity.
• Neoth described Cadul leading the rebels and Malcador's role in the immense civil war, which destroyed star systems and divided the Iron Men into rival factions.
• Neoth explained that humanity later sealed, destroyed, or exiled Iron Men, and Lox understood why the Imperium banned artificial intelligence.

Lox discussed artificial intelligence, the Imperium’s failures, and the Emperor’s Webway Project with Neoth. Neoth explained that he could not leave the Golden Throne unless someone else could contain the Warp breach beneath Terra, and Lox resolved to find a way to free him.

• Neoth explained that Chaos could corrupt artificial intelligences, while Lox revealed that he had used a Necron Blackstone matrix to shield them from Warp influence and received permission to proceed cautiously.
• Lox and Neoth discussed the Imperium’s inefficiency, and Neoth admitted he had intended to entrust humanity to itself if the Webway Project succeeded.
• Neoth explained that he had rushed the Great Crusade to exploit the brief opening after the Thirsting Lady’s birth and devote the Imperium’s resources to the Webway Project.
• Lox blamed Magnus for ruining the project, and Neoth mourned Magnus’s good intentions and the catastrophe his actions caused.
• Lox asked Neoth to leave the Golden Throne, but Neoth said his psychic suppression was the only thing holding back the Warp daemons beneath Terra.
• Neoth said Kador could not replace him because the Golden Throne’s psychic strain would kill him, and Lox refused to give up on finding another solution.

The Emperor revealed that he had arranged for Lox to travel into the future, partly to protect him from the conflicts of his own era and partly to preserve humanity’s chance of survival. Lox learned the Chief’s fate remained uncertain and asked the Emperor to explain his true mission.

• Lox suggested using Blackstone to suppress the Webway breach, but the Emperor rejected the idea and said that was not Lox’s mission.
• The Emperor told Lox that he had chosen him to travel into the future for a more important task.
• The Emperor showed Lox a memory of Neoth and the Chief discussing the Future Reinforcement Project and humanity’s coming dark age.
• Lox learned that the Chief had sent him away to protect him from the enemies he planned to confront.
• The Emperor said the Chief might have ended the Iron Men Rebellion after the enemy’s leaders mysteriously vanished.
• Lox asked the Emperor what his true mission was.

Lox learned that his true mission was to flee the dying universe if humanity’s survival became impossible, carrying its spark to a safer world. The Emperor also revealed the Golden Throne’s role in a possible apotheosis and that he might become a destructive God of Humanity to avenge humanity.

• Lox rejected the Emperor’s apology, affirmed that he would choose his own path, and learned that his mission was to flee if the universe became impossible to save.
• The Emperor explained that Horus and the Four Gods were his true enemies and that he might send Lox to another universe if humanity faced extinction.
• The Emperor revealed that he had sealed Lox’s psychic talent to protect the plan from the Warp’s attention, and Lox angrily realized how early he had been manipulated.
• The Emperor explained that the Golden Throne could turn its user into a God of Humanity by absorbing human pain and souls, and Lox feared the consequences of its awakening.
• The Emperor said the Golden Throne’s original creators had been consumed by it, and that he might embrace ascension and wage a war of vengeance if humanity were destroyed.

Lox learned that the Emperor’s hidden plan was an escape from the Golden Throne, but the Emperor admitted he did not know how to overcome the Webway crisis. Lox kept the secret and returned to the Mountain Array, where he set out to strengthen the loyalists’ defenses and production in the Solar System.

• The Emperor revealed to Lox that his true plan had been concealed beneath the Chief's Future Reinforcement Project, but said he did not know how to resolve the crisis or escape the Golden Throne.
• Lox considered possible replacements for the Emperor on the Throne, including Magnus and Ulthran, but rejected Ulthran as unable to bear the strain.
• Lox descended from the Golden Throne and kept the Emperor’s secret as he told Malcador the meeting was over.
• Malcador teleported Lox and Rogal Dorn back to the Mountain Array after they left the Throne Room.
• Lox proposed establishing production bases in the Solar System, supplying loyalists, and unifying the fragmented Mechanicum to prepare for the rebels’ advance.

Lox brought Konrad Curze to meet the Emperor, and Curze confessed his guilt while condemning the Great Crusade as unjust. The Emperor listened in silence as Curze sought judgment from both his father and himself.

• Lion assumed command and mobilized the Solar System’s warships for an attack, with Jaghatai Khan and Sanguinius assigned to assist him.
• Lox returned to the Red Alert and prepared for the possibility that the Emperor might send him and the ship out of the universe.
• Lox told Curze that the Emperor was willing to meet him, and the Imperial Aquila statue summoned the Emperor’s phantom.
• Curze admitted that he had used prophecy to excuse his actions and said he hated himself for his sins.
• Curze accused the Emperor and the Great Crusade of injustice, insisting that he and his Legion had been accomplices in the Imperium’s crimes.

Lox witnessed the Emperor confront Konrad Curze, who accused his father of abandoning and shaping him into a monster. The Emperor rejected Curze’s narrow judgment, urged him to choose a new path and fight for the suffering, and forgave him before his message faded.

• Curze blamed the Emperor for giving him a heart, leaving him to suffer, and turning him into Night Haunter.
• The Emperor said humanity’s survival mattered above individual ideas of justice and revealed that he, too, was merely a tool serving humanity.
• The Emperor told Curze that his belief in unchangeable fate was his first mistake and urged him to mature and defend those suffering under violence.
• The Emperor warned Curze that choosing death was not freedom, told him to face what was worse than death, and forgave him.
• The Emperor’s psychic message faded from the Aquila pendant, and Curze held it tightly, knelt, and wept.

After the Emperor forgave Curze, Lox tried to help him find a way to atone and make himself useful. Lox proposed that Curze secretly act as a double agent and bring back the Magic Pony to free the Emperor.

• Curze accepted the Emperor’s forgiveness, put on the pendant, and declared that he could choose his own path rather than be ruled by the future.
• Lox teased Curze about calling him uncle, then listened as Curze asked how he could atone for his mistakes.
• Lox urged Curze to take responsibility for leading the Eighth Legion, but Curze focused on rescuing Sevatar from Lion’s prison.
• Lox realized Curze could serve as a double agent because no one knew he had returned to the Imperium.
• Lox told Curze to bring back the Magic Pony and strap him onto the Golden Throne so the Emperor could be freed.

Lox devised a plan for Curze to feign a prison escape and infiltrate the traitors by gaining Magnus's trust. When Lox went to consult Leman Russ about Magnus, he learned that Russ had gone to meet Jaghatai Khan and set out to investigate.

• Lox argued that Curze could not help the loyalists alone and asked him to follow a plan to capture Magnus.
• Lox proposed that Curze pretend to escape captivity and offer himself as an insider to Magnus, with Lion arranging a convincing torture and rescue.
• Curze eagerly agreed, and Lox said he needed more information about Magnus before refining the plan.
• Lox went to find Leman Russ, hoping to learn about Magnus from the Wolf King's past encounter with him at Prospero.
• Lox learned that Russ had gone to find Jaghatai Khan, so he boarded a ship for the Victorious Crown to investigate.

Lox visited the White Scars’ newly claimed warship, the Eagle of the Heavens, and met Jaghatai Khan and Leman Russ as they played regicide. The game favored the Khan, while Lox arrived to discuss important business with Russ.

• The White Scars transformed the Triumph's Crown into the Eagle of the Heavens and celebrated gaining the powerful warship.
• Gantula welcomed Lox aboard, and Lox asked to meet Leman Russ rather than join the celebration.
• Gantula led Lox to the Khan’s tent, where Namahi and the Keshig guarded the entrance until the Khan allowed Lox inside.
• Lox found Jaghatai Khan and Leman Russ playing regicide, with the Khan’s forces close to victory.

Lox, Jaghatai Khan, and Russ discussed the Khan’s distance from the Imperium and his past closeness to Horus. Jaghatai explained that he distrusted the Emperor’s lies but chose the Imperium over Chaos, while Russ ended their conversation by declaring himself a barbarian who refused to reason.

• Jaghatai defeated Russ at chess and asked what was troubling him.
• Russ asked why Jaghatai had been close to Horus but had not joined him, and Lox described the Khan as distant from the Imperium.
• Lox argued that Jaghatai had deliberately kept his distance because he saw through the Emperor’s approach and the Imperium’s falsehoods.
• Jaghatai recalled the Emperor urging him to believe in the Imperial Truth, then said he distrusted both the Imperium and Chaos but preferred the Imperium.
• Russ crushed the chess king and called Jaghatai sane, declaring that he was a barbarian who refused to reason.

Lox asked Jaghatai Khan whether he would have joined Horus if Horus had rebelled to purge corruption, and the Khan explained why he would have supported him before the Warp’s influence. He recalled the White Scars’ divided loyalties and his views on the Warmaster’s appointment and the dangers of the Warp, leaving Lox impressed by his insight and resolve.

• Lox asked Jaghatai Khan whether he would have rebelled alongside Horus to cleanse corruption from the Imperium, and the Khan said he would have answered Horus’s call if that had been his goal.
• Jaghatai Khan revealed that Hask Khan and Tughlaq Khan had attempted to force him to join Horus, but Shiban Khan thwarted their coup.
• The Khan recalled how Torghun joined Sagyar Mazan, faced Mortarion, and helped cover the Khan’s advance, while the White Scars paid a heavy price defending Terra.
• Jaghatai Khan explained that he had opposed making Horus Warmaster because the office would divide the primarchs and place Horus in a dangerous position above them.
• The Khan warned that the Warp consumed those who either denied or blindly worshipped it, and Lox applauded his wisdom and resolve.

Lox learned from Jaghatai Khan and Leman Russ about Magnus’s shattered soul and the events that led to his fall. He left planning to use Magnus’s soul fragments to lure him to the Golden Throne, while Jaghatai suspected Russ was preparing for a deadly confrontation.

• Lox asked Jaghatai Khan and Leman Russ for their thoughts on Magnus.
• Jaghatai explained that Magnus had recklessly explored the Warp, and that Russ had shattered Magnus’s body and soul during the Burning of Prospero.
• Jaghatai revealed that Magnus had used a bargain with the Changer of Ways to send himself and the Thousand Sons to the Planet of the Sorcerers.
• Russ recalled Magnus’s warning that he was being wielded by the wrong hand, while Jaghatai described shattering a fragment of Magnus’s soul after finding it on Prospero.
• Lox concluded that Magnus’s soul fragments could draw him to the Golden Throne and left to discuss the plan with the Sigillite.
• Russ departed with his Wolf Guard, and Jaghatai suspected his brother intended to emulate an old tale.