Chapter Summaries

Saul chose to land troops on T'au after the planet's shield withstood orbital bombardment, while Shadowsun prepared the planet’s defenses. Aun'Va used pheromones to turn the T'au into fanatical defenders, leaving Shadowsun worried about what would happen to them after the war.

• Saul halted the Imperial Fleet’s pursuit and ordered a bombardment to test T'au’s planetary shield.
• The shield absorbed the bombardment, so Saul ordered Imperial forces to prepare a landing operation and destroy its generators.
• Shadowsun received reports on the T'au defenses, including their weapons, troops, and limited supply reserves.
• Shadowsun watched Aun'Va’s broadcast, in which he urged the T'au to fight and used pheromones to intensify their resolve.
• Shadowsun questioned the cost of Aun'Va’s influence, then ordered the officers to return to their posts and prepare to repel the human landing forces.

After winning the orbital battle, Saul planned a mass assault to weaken T'au’s defenses and capture its cities. The landings began, and Sergeant Victor descended toward his first battle against the T'au.

• Shadowsun looked up at T'au’s shield as Imperial warships waited in orbit.
• Saul briefed the Imperial commanders on the T'au defenses and ordered a combined Astra Militarum airborne assault and Astartes strikes against the shield generators.
• Saul warned that the invasion would bring heavy casualties and rallied the commanders to fight in the Emperor’s name.
• Three hours later, Imperial Drop Pods pierced the shield and began landing troops on T'au.
• Sergeant Victor checked his weapons inside a Drop Pod as it neared touchdown for his first battle against xenos.

Victor and the Cadian Third Division established a defensive camp on T'au before a massive T'au force launched an assault. The Imperials destroyed one Crisis Battlesuit but were overwhelmed by enemy fire as Victor fought from the trench.

• Victor and the Third Division landed on T'au and built defensive positions across the purple grassland.
• A T'au missile struck the camp's ammunition stockpile, killing soldiers as an armored column advanced.
• Crisis Battlesuits attacked the Imperial lines, and an anti-armor rocket knocked one down for Victor's squad to destroy.
• Thousands of T'au fire warriors opened fire, devastating the trenches and killing the soldiers inside.
• The Commissar shot an officer who called for retreat and ordered the troops to hold their positions as Victor continued firing.

Victor survived the T'au assault as Imperial air support arrived, followed by the Sons of Sorrow Chapter. The Space Marines joined the fight against the T'au, leaving the battle raging as their reinforcements charged into the enemy lines.

• A T'au Crisis Battlesuit killed Anton and crushed Victor's squad leader before a Thunderhawk destroyed it.
• Imperial aircraft attacked the T'au forces, giving the battered Imperial soldiers a chance to counterattack.
• Three Sons of Sorrow Terminators landed and the Veteran Sergeant tore a T'au pilot from his Crisis Battlesuit.
• A T'au Stormsurge wounded the Sergeant with a plasma beam, but he stayed on his feet.
• The Sons of Sorrow Seventh Company arrived in five Thunderhawk Transporters, and their Company Captain led one hundred Space Marines in a charge against the T'au.

The Sons of Sorrow were overwhelmed by the T'au’s numbers and reinforcements, so the Company Captain called in the Iron Saints’ Descent. Three Imperial Knight Titans landed among the T'au armoured column and began destroying it, giving the Space Marines a chance to counterattack.

• Sons of Sorrow warriors fought through the T'au ranks, but Bruno was vaporized by a Stormsurge and Kroot swarms killed another Space Marine.
• The Company Captain ordered his forces into a defensive circle when T'au reinforcements approached.
• The Company Captain authorized the Wrath of Titans Protocol and called for the Iron Saints’ Descent.
• Three Imperial Knight Titans landed in the T'au armoured column, overturned tanks, crushed infantry, and destroyed a Stormsurge.
• The Company Captain rallied the surviving Space Marines to strike back for their fallen brothers.

Shadowsun kept the T'au forces on Aun'Va’s orders despite the destruction of the 7th Rapid Response Cadre, while Saul identified the shield generators as the key to breaking the planetary defenses. Saul led an assault on the third shield generator and stood amid the incoming fire as the attack began.

• Shadowsun learned that the 7th Rapid Response Cadre had been wiped out and ordered the remaining cadres to hold their positions.
• Saul explained that Aun'Va was using signals to control the T'au and ordered Imperial forces to target seven critical shield generators.
• Saul announced that he would personally lead the attack on the third shield generator.
• Kairas prepared the First Legion’s defenses after detecting the incoming human drop forces.
• Saul landed at the generator’s outer defenses, and Kairas ordered every unit to fire at him.
• Saul raised his hand and snapped his fingers as the weapons struck toward him.

Saul cut through the T'au forces and deflected the Tidal Battlesuits' weapons before disabling one of the giant machines. He reached its cockpit, with the other Battlesuits still in the fight.

• Kairas ordered the Tidal Battlesuits deployed after conventional weapons failed to stop Saul.
• Saul and the other Space Marines slaughtered T'au forces, and Saul destroyed a Crisis Battlesuit with a single slash.
• Shas'O Tor led three Tidal Battlesuits in a coordinated attack, but Saul split their railgun rounds, missiles, and plasma beams with his sword.
• Saul charged one Tidal Battlesuit, parried its power axe, and landed on its shoulder.
• Saul drove his sword through a gap in the machine's armour, disabled its right arm, and moved toward the cockpit.

Saul destroyed the three Tidal Battlesuits and ordered his forces to advance on the shield generator. As the Imperials approached, Shadowsun directed Kairas to evacuate most of his troops and prepare to overload the generator, leaving an elite rearguard behind.

• Saul killed Tor by stabbing through his Tidal Battlesuit’s cockpit, then destroyed a second suit after its pilot triggered the self-destruct sequence.
• The final Tidal Battlesuit pilot surrendered, but Saul shot him and ordered the Imperials to continue toward the shield generator.
• Kairas learned that the T'au defenses had collapsed and struggled to choose between holding the generator, retreating, or destroying it.
• Shadowsun contacted Kairas and ordered him to evacuate nonessential personnel before overloading the generator once the Imperials reached the core area.
• Kairas agreed to Shadowsun’s plan, ordered three battalions to withdraw, and kept the First and Second Battalions behind as a rearguard.

Kairas triggered the Mountain Fortress Shield Generator’s overload as Saul and the Space Marines fought to escape, destroying the fortress and opening a gap in the planet’s shield. Saul survived with 173 Marines, and Imperial warships began orbital strikes against nearby T'au installations.

• Kairas prepared the generator to overload while Saul led the Space Marines into the Mountain Fortress core and discovered the reactor was destabilizing.
• Saul ordered a retreat, but T'au Fire Warriors and Kroot launched suicidal attacks to trap the Marines near the generator.
• Saul used his psychic power to clear an escape route, then saw Kairas trigger the overload remotely.
• The generator exploded like a miniature sun, destroying the Mountain Fortress; Saul shielded nearby Marines, and 173 of the 210 survivors remained.
• Imperial warships detected the gap in the shield network and bombarded T'au military installations near the fortress.

Shadowsun sought full authority to fight the Imperium as she saw fit while the T'au shield network collapsed and the planet endured devastating bombardments and ground battles. With the Imperium occupying part of the continent and billions dead, Aun'Va gathered the surviving Ethereals to prepare for the final battle.

• Shadowsun ordered forces toward the shield gap and requested full authority from the Supreme Ethereal to use tactics beyond the teachings of the greater good.
• Over the next seventy-two hours, Saul's troops destroyed six more Shield Generators, and the T'au planetary shield system collapsed.
• The Imperial Fleet began full-scale orbital bombardment as T'au troops retreated into underground shelters and fought back across the cities.
• Victor and Karis lost their squad leader in a street battle, then escaped with his body aboard a Thunderhawk transport.
• Three days later, the Imperium had occupied ten percent of T'au's Main Continent, while more than thirty million T'au warriors and billions of civilians had died.
• Aun'Va summoned the remaining Ethereals beneath the Supreme Council Chamber and urged them to keep fighting as the empire faced its final hour.

Saul weighed the Imperium’s options for defeating the T’au and began orbital bombardment while seeking authorization for a planet-killing torpedo. Meanwhile, Shadowsun revealed an escape plan to Aun'Va, leaving him conflicted over whether to flee and preserve the T’au Empire.

• More than a hundred Ethereals used pheromones and psychic influence to make the T’au city’s population fanatically willing to fight to the death.
• Saul compared a ground assault, orbital bombardment, and a Dual-Stage Cyclonic Torpedo, then chose to begin bombardment and request Terra’s approval for the torpedo.
• Shadowsun told Aun'Va that the Imperium had surrounded the city and that she had secretly prepared twenty merchant ships and frigates to evacuate selected survivors.
• Shadowsun urged Aun'Va to escape with them so he could lead the T’au who survived, while Aun'Va struggled with the idea of abandoning the city.

Aun'Va arranged for Shadowsun to lead the T'au evacuation while he stayed behind, as the Imperial bombardment of New Dawn City began. When orbital attacks proved too slow, Saul requested and received the Emperor's authorization to use planet-killing torpedoes, and ordered them prepared.

• Aun'Va told Shadowsun to lead the evacuation fleet during the human assault and promised the Ethereals would create confusion to help it escape.
• The Imperial Fleet bombarded New Dawn City for six hours, destroying its surface districts while most T'au survived in underground shelters.
• Saul learned the bombardment was consuming ammunition while causing few casualties, and asked Constantin Valoris for permission to use Dual-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes.
• Valoris said he would seek the Emperor's decision, and Saul ordered the bombardment reduced while a conventional ground assault was prepared.
• Seventy-two hours later, Valoris told Saul that the Emperor had authorized the torpedoes, and Saul ordered them prepared.

Saul ordered the launch of a two-stage Cyclonic Torpedo to destroy T'au, while Shadowsun prepared an evacuation fleet and Aun'Va chose to remain behind. The torpedo launched and struck the planet, leaving T'au's fate uncertain.

• Saul told Victor that the Imperium would destroy T'au, and said he believed it was his duty to eliminate the threat despite the moral questions.
• Tech-Priests retrieved and prepared the two-stage Cyclonic Torpedo aboard the warship in orbit.
• Shadowsun told Aun'Va that she would evacuate 180,000 elite warriors, technical personnel, and civilians, but he refused to leave T'au.
• T'au ships escaped into space as Saul gave the order to launch the torpedo.
• The torpedo struck a plain one hundred kilometers from the capital as Aun'Va watched from the council chamber.

Saul’s forces destroyed T'au, leaving Shadowsun and 180,000 survivors to flee and swear revenge. On the return voyage, Saul read that Chapter Master Phoros had died at Macragge, and Gareth came to speak with him about the loss.

• Aun'Va died as T'au shattered into fragments, and Saul ordered his fleet to return after witnessing the planet’s destruction.
• Shadowsun learned that T'au had been destroyed and rallied the 180,000 survivors to find a new home and rebuild their civilization.
• Shadowsun swore that she and the survivors would make the Imperium of Man and Saul pay for destroying their homeworld.
• Saul read that Hive Fleet Behemoth had been annihilated at Macragge and that Chapter Master Phoros had died fighting a Hive Tyrant.
• Saul recalled Phoros’s guidance and struggled to hide his grief when Gareth entered his quarters, having seen the battle report.

Saul returned to Optera, where the Lamenters welcomed him and urged him to succeed Chapter Master Phoros. After honoring Phoros at a memorial ceremony, Saul left his former master’s sarcophagus in the Chapter’s Hall of Souls.

• Gareth told Saul that Phoros had believed Saul should lead the Lamenters, leaving Saul silent and thoughtful.
• Saul reached Optera and learned from Karen that the Chapter had lost 3,237 brothers but destroyed the Behemoth swarm and saved Macragge.
• Karen presented Phoros’s Memory Crystal and said the Company Captains wanted Saul to become Chapter Master, but Saul asked for time to think.
• More than fifty thousand Lamenters welcomed Saul at the spaceport, and he told them he was home.
• At Phoros’s memorial, Saul and the other Captains laid treasured weapons and mementos on the sarcophagus, and Saul gave Phoros his Power Sword.
• Saul watched as Phoros’s sarcophagus was carried into the Hall of Souls and bid farewell to his former master.

Saul was consecrated as the thirteenth Chapter Master of the Lamenters after Sanguinius's blood flooded him with golden light, and he vowed never to abandon a brother. He then led the Lamenters into the Ragnarok System to attack the Bloodskull Raiders, whose fleet was already losing ground when the chapter ended.

• Phil consecrated Saul, and Sanguinius's blood flew from its vessel and bathed Saul in golden light.
• Phil declared Saul the thirteenth Chapter Master, and Saul promised the Lamenters he would never abandon anyone in need of protection.
• Saul and the Lamenters arrived at the Ragnarok System and saw the wreckage of refugee ships destroyed by the Bloodskull Raiders.
• Saul ordered the fleet to attack without accepting surrender or taking prisoners, and the Mother of Tears destroyed the Bloodskull Raiders' flagship, the Skull of Slaughter.
• The Lamenters charged the enemy fleet, and their superior skill and Saul's presence gave them a major advantage in the battle.

Saul led the Lamenters to destroy the Bloodskull Marauders on Ragnarok and spent decades winning victories across the galaxy. As the Chaos Gods’ patience wore thin, Governor Ivan Karamazov discovered a reality-defying apparatus beneath the Star of Hope.

• Saul boarded the Bloodskull Marauders’ flagship, killed Krom, and led the Terminators in wiping out the renegades on the bridge.
• Saul and the Lamenters liberated Ragnarok’s enslaved population, destroyed the Marauders’ fortress, and ended the battle in victory.
• Over the following decades, Saul led the Lamenters to major victories against Orks, Tyranids, and other enemies, while his reputation and Warp projection grew.
• The Lamenters expanded to 120,000 warriors as three Dark Gods lost patience with Saul’s growing influence.
• Governor Ivan Karamazov and a Tech-Priest examined an impossible underground apparatus on the Star of Hope that seemed to absorb something more fundamental than energy.

A device unearthed on the Star of Hope corrupted Governor Karamazov and spread Chaos across the planet and the Pacific Subsector. The High Lords considered destroying the device but summoned Saul, Chapter Master of the Lamenters and a living Saint, to try to neutralize it.

• The device's light offered Karamazov power and eternal prosperity, and he accepted its blessing along with his entourage.
• Karamazov imposed a new faith on the Star of Hope, and the device's influence transformed its people and spread corruption to nearby planets.
• The High Lords learned that the Engine could not be destroyed without triggering a sector-wide Warp Storm and that neutralizing it would require one hundred thousand powerful psykers for three months.
• Valoris proposed sending Saul to face the Engine, saying that Saul might withstand its energy and that the Emperor willed it.
• The High Lords ordered an urgent astropathic message sent to Saul with the Star of Hope's coordinates, intelligence, and their request.

Saul accepted Terra’s mission to stop the Chaos Engine on the Star of Hope and led a hundred Lamenters veterans there, despite warning them the mission could be fatal. They reached the engine beneath the Governor’s Palace, where Tzeentch appeared and taunted Saul for coming to save the threatened billions.

• Saul received Terra’s emergency orders, accepted the mission, and instructed the crew to carry out Exterminatus if he failed.
• Saul assembled the veterans and warned them of the danger, but Karen, Gareth, Klaest, and the others vowed to follow him.
• The Mother of Tears reached the corrupted Star of Hope, and Saul led the Lamenters through its hostile atmosphere to the ruins of the Governor’s Palace.
• Saul and the veterans fought twisted former Imperial Guard soldiers, using flamers to destroy the monsters’ writhing remains.
• The Lamenters found the enormous Chaos Engine beneath the palace, and Tzeentch manifested an avatar and taunted Saul for coming to stop it.

Saul sent his battle-brothers away and entered the engine alone, absorbing the divine power of the three gods despite their warnings. As the gods’ corruption tortured his body and mind, he clung to his belief that humanity deserved to live.

• Tzeentch warned Saul that destroying the engine would release its power across the sector and offered him the choice to leave or absorb it at the cost of his life.
• Saul ordered his battle-brothers to evacuate, and Karen promised to lead the Lamenters if Saul did not return.
• After his brothers withdrew, Saul rejected the gods’ final warnings and removed his Power Armour.
• Saul touched the engine and endured Khorne’s rage, Nurgle’s decay, and Tzeentch’s madness as the divine power corrupted him.
• Saul resisted the gods’ visions and insisted that people deserved to be saved because they were human and had the right to live.