Chapter Summaries

Evan and the surviving Space Marines defeated the Greater Daemon Karkarim by chopping apart his physical body until his Warp energy ran out. Afterward, Evan found a hidden vault containing over 120 pure Luna Wolves gene-seeds, but he suspected the Black Legion had been guarding something more valuable.

• Karkarim chased Evan with steel beams and wreckage while the Techmarine and Chief Apothecary searched for relics and treated the wounded Grand Master Librarian.
• Evan severed Karkarim’s foot and tail, then used Chapter relics and his Ion Pistol to destroy the daemon’s head and limbs.
• The Techmarine and Chief Apothecary joined Evan in hacking Karkarim apart until the Greater Daemon returned to the Warp.
• Evan searched the wreckage and found a hidden entrance beneath the altar, where the others discovered more than 120 pure Luna Wolves gene-seeds.
• Evan suspected the gene-seed was not the only treasure the Black Legion had been escorting and continued searching the vault.

Evan and the surviving Astartes salvaged valuable gene-seeds and STC fragments, then debated building a larger force and reforming human society outside the Imperium’s authority. Situval reluctantly agreed to test their plan on a few planets as an approaching fleet neared the Warp exit.

• Evan and the others found five STC fragments, while the Storm Will Apothecary insisted on recovering over seven hundred gene-seeds and the Techmarine built him a storage train.
• Evan led a post-battle meeting and proposed guerrilla defenses, concealing their salvaged cargo from the Dawn Angels, and destroying the original storage sites.
• Evan argued for raising forces beyond the Codex Astartes limit and liberating rebel planets while replacing aristocratic rule with a system offering ordinary people education and advancement.
• Librarian Grand Master Mororis supported Evan, and Evan and Mororis persuaded Situval to agree to test the plan on a few planets.
• The Baina Robe guarded the Warp junction as a fleet approached, while the survivors finished their meeting.

After the Shadow Blades’ survivors were rescued by the Dawn Angels, Evan became a celebrated swordsman while the Chapters salvaged wreckage and reached the Forge World of Stolov. The four survivors received ships and supplies, then began organizing the Storm Will Chapter’s rebuilding and setting out for a provisional council.

• The Dawn Angels rescued Evan and his three companions, honored them for their presumed heroism, and spent a month salvaging the battlefield wreckage before traveling toward Stolov.
• The Dawn Angels watched Annos’s helmet recordings, and Evan’s reputation grew until he sparred with several warriors and proved difficult to overcome with sword technique.
• The fleet arrived at Stolov, where Archmagos Phinnis negotiated with Musrid and the Dawn Angels gave the survivors two Battle Barges and promised Evan Terminator armor.
• Situval and his companions amended the Storm Will Chapter’s contract with Phinnis, who supplied weapons and equipment and ordered the Forge World to recruit more Skitarii.
• Evan and his companions met Captain Agar aboard the Light of Dawn, reassured him that they would treat mortals as partners, and summoned the captain of the Righteous Vigil.
• Evan delivered a speech to the ship captains and officers, then proposed that they travel to the provisional Segmentum Pacificus Second Council to discuss rebuilding the Chapter.

Evan and the representatives of the Storm Will and Shadow Blades formed the Crimson Tide, agreed on its identity and leadership, and secured support from the provisional Segmentum Pacificus Second Council. The chapter ended as recruits from every hive class prepared for Evan’s harsh selection trial on Planet Scaria.

• The provisional Segmentum Pacificus Second Council funded Chapter Reconstruction and arranged recruitment drives after hearing of the Astartes’ victory.
• Evan persuaded the Techmarine and Chief Apothecary Situval to name their new Chapter the Crimson Tide and adopt a red scheme with a sickle-and-hammer badge.
• The three representatives chose Evan as acting Chapter Master and agreed to trust warriors carrying Luna Wolves gene-seed rather than conceal their origins.
• Planetary Governor Otist welcomed the representatives and promised supplies, while Evan asked the Council to recruit candidates beyond the noble academies.
• Evan announced a three-day desert trial for anyone of the right age, requiring entrants to carry only ordinary clothes and half a liter of water.

Xiao Lan, Enke, Frosa, and young William headed toward the Astartes selection from very different circumstances, while Evan secured supplies and organized preparations. The chapter left Xiao Lan crossing the wilderness after discovering that a False-Plated Rhinoceros’s intimidating armor was only a disguise.

• Xiao Lan rejected the bar owner's warnings, gave his saved corpse starch to other children, and set out from the Underhive with food and water.
• Enke used his calculations to conclude that selection was nearly hopeless, but Frosa persuaded him to board the school bus and test his assumptions.
• William defied his mother, gathered supplies in his toy room, and escaped his family's watchers by disguising himself and boarding the school bus with Enke and Frosa.
• Evan secured twenty years of food supplies from Grand Duke Kangor, while the Techmarine prepared an analysis device and the Apothecary prepared for the warships to connect.
• Xiao Lan crossed the plain with a sharpened stick and encountered a False-Plated Rhinoceros, whose body armor proved to be a harmless bluff.

The candidates began the desert selection as dangerous beasts fled toward the outskirts, driven by Evan slaughtering predators near the center. Evan killed Chi Wei Ding and the guards who tried to retrieve Little William, while Xiao Lan and Little William’s group continued toward the center through the night.

• Evan prepared to oversee the selection as Enke, Little William, Frosa, and Xiao Lan reached their starting areas, and the chapter described the desert’s predators and food sources.
• Xiao Lan sheltered beneath bonewood to sleep through the heat, while Little William, Enke, and Frosa traveled by daylight and narrowly avoided a Sireka Giant Python.
• Evan killed giant beasts near the center and feasted with the staff, causing animals to stampede toward the outskirts and leaving many candidates injured or overwhelmed.
• Evan spotted Chi Wei Ding crossing the desert and confronted him; after Chi Wei Ding attacked, Evan killed him and four accompanying guards, then ordered their bodies displayed as a warning against cheating.
• After nightfall, Xiao Lan set out across the desert, while Little William shared his remaining water with Frosa and the group planned to keep traveling until morning.

Little William, Enke, Frosa, and Xiao Lan struggled across the desert toward the Astartes trial’s finish as hunger, thirst, and exhaustion wore them down. The preliminary round ended with more than sixteen hundred candidates passing, including William’s group, who crossed the line moments before losing consciousness.

• Little William killed a color-changing lizard, and he, Enke, and Frosa ate its raw meat before continuing their journey.
• Lady William nearly succumbed to demonic whispers urging her to attack ships, but her Emperor-blessed jade shattered and she prayed for protection; Grand Duke William then arranged to offer Evan ten shiploads of ammunition.
• Xiao Lan used shed Sireka Giant Python scales on his feet to move faster across the sand, then pressed onward despite hunger and thirst.
• Candidates collapsed near the finish as rescue aircraft brought them in, while Little William supported Enke and Frosa through the final stretch.
• Little William, Enke, and Frosa reached the finish moments after midnight, learned they had crossed the line in time, and were taken unconscious to medical care.
• The preliminary round ended with more than sixteen hundred candidates advancing, including a candidate who rode a desert wolf and others who brought Evan sand mushrooms.

After the desert trial, Evan isolated the surviving candidates for thirty days to test their ability to endure solitude, then prepared psychic testing to assess their loyalty and resistance to the warp. The candidates entered the next trial, while Evan and the psykers stood ready to begin.

• Grand Duke William learned that his son had passed the desert trial, ordered a statue of the Emperor built, and asked the Imperialis Militia to protect him.
• Evan confined the candidates to individual rooms with food deliveries and no clocks, turning their thirty-day rest into a test of solitude.
• William maintained a steady routine through exercise, Enke tracked time and suspected a hidden test, and Xiao Lan enjoyed the food and comfortable bed.
• Many Upper Hive candidates withdrew from selection, while none of the Underhive boys pressed the withdrawal button.
• Evan announced the candidates had passed the second round and brought them to a venue where psykers would test their loyalty to the Emperor and resistance to the warp.

Evan oversaw a psychic test that forced the candidates to relive their pain and face sinister whispers. Xiao Lan, Enke, and William passed, leaving 211 candidates to face the final test.

• Evan and the gathered psykers began the Warp-resistance test, and more than nine hundred candidates were carried away as the psychic assault intensified.
• A psyker showed William memories of his family’s expectations, but William rejected the whispers and declared his courage and loyalty to the Emperor.
• A psyker forced Xiao Lan to relive hunger and abuse, but Xiao Lan endured by focusing on the food Evan had given him; Evan returned his dropped food as medics carried him away.
• Enke stayed composed through the psyker’s illusions and passed, while the desert hunter’s son, the merchant’s son, and the final candidate also faced the test before the psykers withdrew their powers.
• Grand Duke William learned that William had passed and joined the 211 finalists, then prayed with his wife and visited the family cemetery to ask his ancestors to protect his son.
• The 211 candidates who passed recovered under medical care as the final test approached.

Evan began the final Astartes selection by releasing a Phenos Stone Serpent into a steel arena with 211 candidates. The serpent survived the candidates’ opening attacks, and the battle ended in a stalemate as William fled with his Meltagun and Enke urged the others to attack.

• Evan arranged for the Adeptus Mechanicus to supply a Phenos Stone Serpent and planned to place five Aquila badges in each of its twenty body segments.
• The candidates trained with their chosen firearms, then gathered in the arena, where Evan announced that they could qualify by escaping with a badge or by surviving until only one hundred remained.
• Enke considered leaving without a badge but chose to take a position where he could watch the battle, while Xiao Lan and William prepared their weapons.
• The Phenos Stone Serpent burst from its crate and charged the candidates; their gunfire barely hurt it, but William struck its second and third segments with a Meltagun.
• The wounded serpent rampaged through the arena, and Enke shouted for the candidates to attack it with Meltaguns while Xiao Lan fired his Ion Pistol; the battle remained at a stalemate.

William, Enke, Xiao Lan, and the other contestants trapped and killed the Phenos Stone Serpent, allowing the surviving boys to claim Aquila badges and finish the trials. The chapter ended with the recruits celebrated across the hive while the injured received treatment and Evan worried over the cost of the Chapter’s deal with Stolov.

• The Adeptus Mechanicus negotiated with the Storm Will Chapter and redirected most of its warship order to the Dawn Angels in exchange for producing biological organs for recruits.
• William proposed trapping the Phenos Stone Serpent beneath a felled metal pillar, and Enke agreed to guide it while the contestants prepared the trap.
• William and Xiao Lan’s group cut through metal pillars to form a corridor, while Enke coordinated gunfire to lure the serpent into position.
• The serpent smashed through a fortress as the pillar fell on it, and William’s group burned through its body while the survivors searched for Aquila badges.
• Xiao Lan blasted an escape hole through the fortress, allowing the remaining wounded contestants to retrieve badges and reach the finish.
• The hive celebrated the selected recruits, Frosa attracted the Astra Militarum’s attention, and medical personnel treated the wounded as Evan fretted over the Mechanicus deal.

Evan developed the Crimson Tide recruits on Phenos while Imperial officials investigated the Chapter’s founding, loyalty, and battlefield records. The meeting ended with Inquisitor Letcher asking whether the Astartes had found what the enemy was protecting.

• Evan reclaimed the Phenos Stone Serpent materials from the Adeptus Mechanicus and planned recruit training and the Crimson Tide Chapter’s organization.
• Six years later, Evan trained forty-six successful Astartes recruits and nine Combat Servitors on Phenos, where they hunted Phenos Stone Serpents.
• Weixing, Kusak, and Inquisitor Letcher arrived to investigate the region after the Dawn Angels publicized the victory at Taste; Otist protected Evan and helped secure Imperial support for the Crimson Tide.
• Evan welcomed the officials aboard the Battle Barge, discussed the Chapter’s paperwork and supplies, and agreed to a loyalty investigation.
• The officials reviewed the battle records, questioned the frozen helmet footage, and asked Evan whether the Crimson Tide had found the object the enemy was protecting.

Evan’s recruits trained against the creatures of Clustered Planet, learned to coordinate assaults and support fire, and prepared to attack the largest Flying Lizard flock. As the warriors improved, Khorne ordered his Blood Legion into the war, while Evan considered using Astartes as Commissars among mortal forces.

• Evan concealed the gene-seed and STC Template from Inquisitor Letcher’s inspection, and the Imperial officials departed for Atris without finding anything suspicious.
• Evan chose Clustered Planet for combat training, where the recruits fought Clustered Armored Beasts and then attacked Flying Lizards, capturing their leader after wounding its wing.
• Evan organized the recruits to plan an assault on the planet’s largest Flying Lizard flock, and the warriors became more cautious after suffering injuries in later missions.
• Khorne foresaw coming slaughter and sent the Blood Legion through Warp rifts toward the main front.
• The Iron Hands’ recruits practiced coordinating infantry with modified Emperor’s Blade Tanks, while William and Kazhaniv emerged from a cave carrying the lizard king’s corpse and head.
• Evan planned to use Astartes as Commissars among mortal forces to strengthen wartime armies and guard against corruption and infiltration.

Evan sent the recruits to Taste for their final trial, where they helped unite the fractured population and imposed a new government under Imperial control. After a month of fighting, Taste returned to peace, and Evan gained his first deployable Astartes while planning further training and recruitment.

• Evan sent forty-two recruits to Taste to reorganize its government, then discussed training Apothecary and Techmarine apprentices with Situval and Annos.
• William and the recruits ambushed a summit of Taste’s tribal leaders and presented Evan’s plan for a unified government enforced by Astartes.
• After the nobles and chiefs resisted the reforms, Astartes secured officials, issued decrees, and helped establish voting systems, military forces, and broader education.
• Minor chiefs formed an alliance and plunged Taste into war, but the recruits defeated them after thirty days, suffering one casualty who needed a prosthetic arm.
• Thirty-three recruits passed the trial and received Power Armour; Evan organized twelve available Astartes into a provisional Second Company while others began training or remained concealed on Taste.

Evan negotiated with Archbishop Froes of the rebel Mavrek Forge Worlds, offering an STC fragment in exchange for a vast supply of war materiel. They reached a two-century production agreement, leaving Evan responsible for supplying rare materials and handling the system’s rebel rivals.

• On Olaye, a tiny creature emerged from a warp rift during a harvest ritual, unnoticed by the workers.
• Evan took a Battle Barge to the Mavrek system and forced its defensive forces to agree to meet by ignoring their warnings and surveying the system.
• Evan told Archbishop Froes that he believed in the Imperial Truth and proposed cooperation between the Forge Worlds and the Crimson Tide.
• Evan demanded extensive military supplies and offered an STC fragment; Froes explained that the system could not meet the full demands within a hundred years.
• Evan and Froes negotiated a final agreement for the Forge Worlds to provide ships, armour, weapons, and tanks over two centuries in exchange for the fragment.

Evan led a mechanized force to Olaye, where Nurgle’s plague had overrun the agricultural world, and ordered orbital bombardment before advancing toward the food-processing plant where the outbreak began. As the force approached, the Nurglings completed a ritual that widened a Warp Rift and drew Nurgle’s attention.

• Evan secured the loan of three Warbringer Nemesis-class Titans and five Reaver-class Titans, then called in Astra Militarum support and departed for Olaye.
• Evan’s force bombarded the poxwalkers surrounding Olaye’s last fortress, then deployed Titans, tanks, and militia to investigate the plague’s origin.
• Evan advanced toward the food-processing plant under heavy firepower, while the mechanized force fought poxwalkers and Nurgle-corrupted beasts.
• On Kusliev, Techmarine Annos selected fifty-eight recruits through trials, and Chief Apothecary Situval abducted two more boys to reach sixty.
• At the food-processing plant, Nurglings gathered poxwalkers and performed a ritual that widened a Warp Rift as Nurgle answered them.

Evan and the Second Company fought off the Death Guard and Nurgle’s forces on Olaye, using Titans and coordinated tank fire to destroy the Plague Marines and their stolen Spartan Assault Tank. After the Atris Astra Militarum arrived, Evan captured and destroyed the altar, then ordered the entire Agri World burned clean.

• Seven veteran Plague Marines emerged from a Warp Rift on Olaye and advanced with Nurgle’s followers toward Evan’s fortified army.
• A tide of corpses surrounded Evan’s positions, but his forces used orbital bombardment and coordinated tank barrages to destroy most of the attackers.
• Evan fought the last Plague Marine who broke through, while Kazhaniv cut off the traitor’s feet and the Second Company finished him with plasma guns and Melta Cannons.
• A Nurgling-operated Spartan Assault Tank attacked from the flank, but Lakshen and William coordinated tank regiments and a Reaver-class Titan to trap and destroy it.
• The Atris Astra Militarum arrived with three hundred thousand soldiers, and Evan captured the original altar and ordered it destroyed after confirming the Warp Rifts had closed.
• Evan’s forces burned Olaye for nearly a year, and the Adeptus Mechanicus later disputed the cost of the cleanup and supplies.

Evan and six Astartes joined a Mechanicus expedition and discovered a lost pilgrim ship carrying relics of Saint Katherine. They boarded it, found signs of a past Slaanesh attack, and fought starving Genestealers as they advanced toward the ship’s gallery.

• Nurgle sensed a coming extinction and set out to hear a traveler’s tales.
• Evan and six Astartes joined a Mechanicus exploration mission in exchange for a share of recovered resources.
• The expedition found a lost Imperial pilgrim ship that had carried Saint Katherine’s scepter and Iron Chain.
• Evan and the Skitarii boarded the ship, discovered evidence of a Slaanesh attack, and identified the lurking enemies as Genestealers.
• The boarding party fought Genestealers that attacked from the front and rear, while the Mechanicus sent in reinforcements and searched the passages.
• Evan’s group reached the iron doors to the ship’s vast gallery as the Genestealers continued to stalk them.

Evan and the Crimson Tide Chapter fought through a Genestealer brood to reach a powerful Broodlord, while the Adeptus Mechanicus battled elsewhere in the vessel. After Evan and Kazhaniv wounded the Broodlord, Evan caught Kazhaniv’s thrown Chainsword and decapitated it.

• Evan’s squad discovered that Genestealers were hiding above the bridge, fought them off, and learned their brood was unusually weak.
• Evan led his squad toward the Broodlord as the Adeptus Mechanicus’s other team encountered heavy losses near the relic repository.
• Evan and the Astartes found the Broodlord surrounded by Genestealers, while Mapus and the Adeptus Mechanicus forces supported them with heavy fire.
• Kazhaniv’s plan collapsed a plasteel beam behind the Broodlord, trapping it between the Astartes attacking from both sides.
• Evan and Kazhaniv charged the Broodlord, and Kazhaniv severed one of its feet with his Chainsword.
• Evan drew the Broodlord’s attention, caught Kazhaniv’s thrown Chainsword, and beheaded the Broodlord.

Evan recovered relics and supplies, built up his forces, and sent his recruits to Scaria to investigate a string of murders. He identified the Night Lords as the likely killers and urged Governor Otist to evacuate to the space station and suspend all traffic.

• Evan and the Adeptus Mechanicus cleared the exhibition hall, found a hidden collection of relics, and spent seven years towing the space hulk to Stolov before settling on a two-hundred-year payment of warships.
• Evan trained new recruits, then exchanged an STC fragment with Archmagos Froes for seven cruisers, ninety-six frigates, and other military supplies.
• Evan placed much of the fleet under his allies’ command and arranged for the Adeptus Mechanicus to supply its crews and escort its operations.
• After nobles and other residents were murdered on Scaria, Evan brought recruits there aboard the Righteous Vigil to investigate.
• A Night Lord killed Clemens and left his body hanging from a streetlight, and Reyna discovered the corpse.
• Evan told Governor Otist that the murders resembled Night Lords’ methods and advised him to evacuate to the space station and suspend traffic.