Recaps

Lynn and "Isolde" defeated the Exalted Flamer, then destroyed the staff’s summoned Mutalith Vortex Beast and routed the remaining daemons. Lynn declared the battle over as the badly wounded Ecclesiarchy warriors stood amid the ruined dining hall, while Loya vanished into the shadows.

• "Isolde" weakened the Exalted Flamer with a shock wave, and Lynn killed it with the Sword of Valenia.
• Lynn destroyed the staff, which opened a rift and summoned a Mutalith Vortex Beast from the gathered remains.
• The Mutalith Vortex Beast blasted Lynn and "Isolde" aside, but "Isolde" redirected Lynn clear of its Psychic Power beam.
• Lynn broke the Beast’s magic barrier, and "Isolde" shattered the disk on its back with a barrage of punches.
• Lynn struck the Beast’s neck with the Sword of Valenia, burning it away completely and causing the remaining daemons to flee or turn on one another.
• Lynn told the grievously wounded Ecclesiarchy warriors that it was over, while Loya smiled and disappeared into the darkness.

Lynn survived the battle at Saint Garus Castle, but Caladogon remained missing and the Ecclesiarchy suffered devastating losses. As Luna St. Garus took control of the family, Lynn and Rena uncovered the danger posed by her ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the family’s Knight suits.

• Lynn left the dining hall with Isolde and found thousands of Ecclesiarchy and Planetary Defence Force troops surrounding Saint Garus Castle.
• Archbishop Goodwin ordered purification rites, while Carter organized a search for Caladogon that found no trace of the High King.
• Goodwin presided over a memorial service, and Carter told Lynn that Luna St. Garus had declared herself Lord Regent after accusing Callum and Leo St. Garus of treason.
• Rena explained that Luna had a legal path to power and close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus, while Lynn realized she might be involved in the conflict surrounding Leo and Knight Aiden.
• Rena revealed that the St. Garus Family had deployed twelve Knight suits in its first battle on Brevis, and Lynn worried Luna might use them but concluded she could not control them all.

Rena told Lynn how she had coordinated Leo’s rescue and the fight at the Forbidden Wall, while Goodwin explained the St. Garus Family’s ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the family’s connections to Chaos. The chapter ended with Goodwin believing Caladogon was still alive but not knowing where he was.

• Rena told Lynn that Quinn and Aiden had killed each other while rescuing Leo, and that fighting between the Noble Council’s rebels and the Vanguard continued at the Forbidden Wall.
• Lynn thanked Rena silently for her actions, and Isolde briefly smiled as she sensed his reaction.
• After the mourning ceremony, Lynn asked Goodwin why Leo had been accused of defecting to Chaos despite fighting at the Forbidden Wall.
• Goodwin explained that the Adeptus Mechanicus had returned to Brevis to study an STC and that St. Garus lords who liaised with them tended to seek power.
• Goodwin revealed that Alistair had gone mad during a battle on Dorito and that his Knight had begun growing flesh and blood, suggesting he had fallen to Khorne.
• Goodwin told Lynn that Caladogon was probably still alive, though he did not know where he was.

Leo returned to the Forbidden Wall after surviving a two-day flight across the ice fields, only to find the Vanguard fighting the St. Garus Knight Auxiliaries. His family’s soldiers accused him of treason, and the suspicion of both sides left him reeling.

• Goodwin advised Lynn to return to the governor’s residence and stabilize the situation, while warning him not to move against Luna without considering the consequences.
• Leo reached the Forbidden Wall with the tribespeople who had escorted him south and saw that the Vanguard and the St. Garus Knight Auxiliaries were fighting.
• Hammond halted his planned assault when soldiers announced Leo’s return, and both the Vanguard and the Knight Auxiliaries reacted with suspicion.
• A wounded Knight Auxiliary officer accused Leo of betraying his family, framing the High King, and causing Callum’s death.
• Leo saw that his comrades doubted him and remembered the notice declaring he had defected to Chaos, leaving him shaken by their distrust.

Leo watched the Vanguard destroy the Knight Auxiliaries, then was imprisoned while Hammond awaited the governor’s decision. After hearing that Callum had died, Lynn had survived, and High King Caladogon was missing, Leo pieced together the events and spotted a connection among the betrayal, the attack on him, and the civil war.

• Hammond ordered the Vanguard’s final assault, and the Knight Auxiliaries fought to the death while Leo watched and wept.
• After the battle, Hammond told Leo he believed him but would imprison him until the governor decided what to do.
• A young noncommissioned officer told Leo that Callum had trapped the governor, a Chaos Sorcerer had disrupted the scheme, and the battle at Saint Garus Castle had left Callum dead and High King Caladogon missing.
• Leo asked the officer to repeat every detail, then connected the events involving Callum, Luna, Aiden, the Knight Auxiliaries, and the Noble Council.
• Leo’s eyes lit up as he recognized a pattern in the events.

Leo realized that Callum and Luna had separately engineered the unrest that sparked the civil war, and he concluded that the conflict was not over. After five days in prison, he learned that Gus had come to see him and was met by Gus and the Vanguard troops.

• Leo connected Callum's conspiracy and Luna's control of the Knights, concluding their rival plans had jointly ignited the civil war.
• After five days in his cell, Leo heard that Gus and another important visitor had arrived from the main hive.
• Leo left the cell and faced a silent formation of Vanguard soldiers, lowering his head in shame.
• Gus walked past the others to Leo, touched his shoulder, and apologized for the wait.

Gus and Bishop Anthony publicly affirmed Leo St. Garus’s loyalty, and Anthony’s three tests found no trace of Chaos corruption. Leo was welcomed back as Grand General by the cheering crowd.

• Gus announced that Leo remained loyal, and Bishop Anthony offered to attest to his purity before the crowd.
• Leo agreed to undergo the public ceremony as soldiers, officials, clergy, Noble Council prisoners, and the Ice Lord’s envoy watched.
• Leo read from the Lectitio Divinitatus without showing signs of corruption, passed the Rosarius test, and showed no reaction to holy oil.
• Anthony declared Leo pure of soul and free of Chaos taint in the Emperor’s name.
• The crowd cheered Leo’s return as Grand General, and Leo held back tears while welcoming their support.

Leo accepted Gus's offer to challenge Luna for control of the St. Garus Family, while Lynn discovered that Rena's thoughts held a bond centered on him and confessed that he loved her. The chapter left Leo resolved to fight for his family and Rena newly satisfied by Lynn's words.

• Gus told Leo that Luna had taken control of the St. Garus Family, then offered him a chance to rally its remaining loyalists and challenge her at Saint Garus Castle.
• Leo chose to fight for his family and vowed to make every hero under heaven bow their head.
• Lynn's Frost Soldiers hunted down and slaughtered the remaining Orks on Brevis, and Rena's affection surpassed seventy.
• Lynn sensed that Rena's Tyranid instincts centered on devouring, but that her thoughts also held his name, Lynn Corvana.
• Lynn told Rena that he loved her, and her affection rose by one point.

Nine days after the attack at Saint Garus Castle, Lynn investigated Luna St. Garus’s invitation to reconvene the Upper City Council and decided to attend despite suspecting a trap. The meeting began with Lynn arriving fully armed and making a show of force, while Luna prepared to address the gathered leaders.

• Lynn saved his two skill points while the situation across the planet remained temporarily stable.
• Lynn received an invitation from Luna St. Garus to reconvene the Upper City Council and asked Rena to investigate her recent activities.
• Rena reported that Luna had been reclaiming her family’s authority with the Adeptus Mechanicus’s armed support, and Lynn decided to attend with Isolde.
• Lynn arrived at the council hall in full armor as leaders from across Brevis gathered, and Luna mocked his caution.
• Lynn drove the Sword of Valenia into the floor beside his seat, silencing the hall, before taking his place as Isolde stood guard.

At the Upper City Council meeting, Luna announced she had become Lord Regent of the St. Garus Family and sought command of the crusade against the Orks on Dorito. Chairman Trayn challenged her lack of military experience, but Luna argued that the planetary-scale war required more than honors, leaving the council and Lynn facing the scale of the threat.

• Lynn observed Luna gathering information about the Adeptus Mechanicus during the council's restrained discussion.
• Luna announced that the St. Garus Family had completed its reorganization and that she would serve as Lord Regent.
• Luna proposed becoming marshal of the Purification Crusade against the Orks on Dorito, with the Noble Council and Adeptus Mechanicus forming its main force.
• Chairman Trayn accused Luna of trying to claim Lynn's achievements and demanded that she prove her military qualifications.
• Luna acknowledged her lack of battlefield experience but argued that a war against a billion Orks and their war machines demanded more than honor and military achievements.

Luna rallied the nobles by announcing the St. Garus Family’s enormous military contribution, but Lynn challenged her leadership and explained why fighting Orks required more than overwhelming firepower. He ended by asking Luna to commit only part of her forces and expressed confidence that the expedition could succeed with her help.

• Luna offered the Noble Council five million troops, while the Adeptus Mechanicus would provide Skitarii, battle robots, Servitors, warships, and Knight suits.
• The nobles cheered for Luna, but Lynn remained calm until the celebration subsided, then stood and confronted her.
• Lynn warned that the Orks’ WAGHHHH Field let them rapidly imitate human technology, making a prolonged conflict dangerous for Brevis.
• Lynn said he had killed Ork Warbosses twice and knew how to defeat them before their technology caught up.
• Lynn asked Luna to provide only part of her military resources and said her help would give the expedition a strong chance of success.

Lynn and Luna failed to agree over who would lead the expedition against Dorito, so they wagered the marshal position on who could capture Carl II first. Before the contest began, Lynn revealed that Leo St. Garus was alive and cleared, threatening Luna’s claim to power.

• Luna offered to serve as expedition marshal while Lynn carried out her battle plans, but they could not agree over whether resources or experience mattered more.
• Lynn proposed that whoever took Carl II first would become marshal, and Luna accepted the wager.
• Lynn revealed that he had not formally recognized Luna as Lord Regent, then summoned Leo St. Garus, Gus, and Bishop Anthony Douglas into the hall.
• Luna’s supporters reacted with shock and anger at Leo’s return, while Leo silently faced Luna.
• Luna realized that Leo’s survival and reputation made him a stronger High King candidate, and her supporters began to waver.

Leo countered Luna’s accusations at the family meeting, winning the support of senior clergy and many St. Garus loyalists. He refused to claim the throne while Caladogon remained missing, but declared himself Prince Regent to lead the family through the crisis.

• Leo greeted Luna, but she accused him, Gus, and Anthony of Chaos corruption and rejected the evidence that Leo was innocent.
• Lynn denied having the power to corrupt the Emperor’s servants, and Goodwin defended Anthony’s loyalty while Anthony displayed his devout faith.
• Sorine watched Luna from among the attendants, ready to expose her if she acted out of line.
• Galil St. Garus pledged himself to Leo, and roughly half the paladins, retainers, and commanders followed him.
• Leo said he would not inherit the throne while Caladogon might still be alive, then declared himself the family’s Prince Regent.

After Luna compromised at the family meeting, Lynn explained to Rena why he believed Luna could not quickly defeat him in the race to seize Carl II. The chapter ended with Lynn confident that Leo’s resistance, the Mechanicus’s interest in the STC, and Carl II’s defenses would delay Luna’s campaign.

• Luna accepted the meeting’s outcome and left, while nobles who had supported her reconsidered their allegiance.
• Lynn returned to the governor’s residence with Isolde, and Gus received his approval for his actions.
• Rena warned Lynn that Luna’s fleet was ready to depart while his flagship still needed repairs.
• Lynn argued that Leo’s supporters would delay Luna’s preparations and that the Mechanicus would prioritize studying the STC over supporting her.
• Lynn explained that Carl II had grown into a vast, maze-like Ork stronghold that Luna would struggle to capture without elite fighters or authority to order Exterminatus.

Lynn praised Rena’s insight and watched to see how Luna would react to his plans. Luna purged Genestealers from her fleet and tested her cruiser, but an unexplained engine failure left her demanding an investigation.

• Rena admired Lynn’s cleverness, and Lynn said he wanted to see how Luna responded.
• Luna assessed the fleet she could muster and noted that Leo’s allies and the Adeptus Mechanicus were obstructing her preparations.
• Luna used Servitors and Auspex scans to find and purge Genestealers aboard her ships.
• Luna took the Rule of Discipline on a test flight, but its engines lost power and its systems became unstable on the return trip.
• The Rule of Discipline returned to port after its engines recovered, and Luna ordered the technicians to investigate the unexplained malfunction.

Luna searched the Rule of Discipline for Genestealers and psychic interference, but the ship suffered another unexplained engine anomaly during its test flight. After Lynn offered help in a suspiciously polite message, Luna invited him to send technicians so she could uncover his tricks.

• Luna supervised a search of the Rule of Discipline and found a Genestealer Tech-Priest who had managed the Gellar Field.
• Luna ordered the residual psychic power near the engines removed, then sent the ship on a second test flight with a heavily mechanized crew.
• During the third circuit around Brevis, the Rule of Discipline's auxiliary engines lost power for thirteen minutes before recovering.
• Emil van Horn inspected the ship and found no mechanical faults, leaving Luna convinced that Lynn had tampered with it somehow.
• Lynn sent Luna a message offering technicians to help, and Luna replied that he could send someone over.

Lynn arranged for ordinary local technicians to perform a strange ritual beside the Rule of Discipline after its third test flight failed. The ritual appeared to restore the ship for one flight, but the next test failed again, leaving Luna frightened by what she could not understand.

• Lynn told Rena to wait and let the Rule of Discipline fly once more before sending anyone.
• The Rule of Discipline’s third test flight failed when its main engine lost power, so Luna requested Lynn’s help.
• A group of local technicians performed a bizarre ritual in front of the ship without touching it, then left.
• The Rule of Discipline completed its fourth test flight without any malfunctions after the ritual.
• The ship’s engines failed again during its fifth test flight, and Luna and Sage Emil wondered whether the ritual had worked.

Luna St. Garus copied Lynn’s bizarre ritual in an attempt to uncover his trick, and the Rule of Discipline’s sixth test flight succeeded. Lynn revealed that he had actually caused the engine problems by bribing fuel administrators to slightly dilute the generators’ ordinary fuel.

• Luna watched the recording repeatedly, decided to perform the ritual herself, and ordered attendants to join her after Tech-Priests refused.
• Luna and her attendants performed the strange movements and incantations aboard the Rule of Discipline while Sage Emil and others watched in discomfort.
• Through Rena’s consciousness, Lynn and Isolde saw Luna’s performance and laughed, and Lynn guessed why the ritual had been chosen.
• The Rule of Discipline completed its sixth test flight without engine trouble, leaving Luna, Sage Emil, and the Tech-Priests baffled.
• Lynn explained that he had bribed fuel administrators to lower the concentration of ordinary generator fuel, causing the power problems without using Tyranids.

Luna led a fleet to attack Carl II, but the Orks ambushed her ships with weaponized asteroids and a swarm of Brute Ram Ships. As the Rule of Discipline suffered repeated impacts, Luna suspected Lynn had known about the trap.

• Lynn planned to let Luna attack Carl II first while he waited for her and the Orks to weaken each other.
• Fifteen days after the upper city meeting, Luna sailed for Carl II with the Rule of Discipline, two other Strike Cruisers, twelve frigates, transports, and mobile shipyards.
• Luna sent two Lunar-class Cruisers and six frigates ahead to scout a passage through the asteroid field surrounding Carl II.
• The Orks propelled hundreds of disguised asteroids toward the fleet, crippling a Cobra-class Destroyer and draining the Rule of Discipline's Void Shield.
• More than a hundred Brute Ram Ships charged the Rule of Discipline, evaded the fleet's weapons, and struck its hull repeatedly.
• Luna realized the Orks had prepared an ambush and roared Lynn's name in fury.

Lynn sent the Purple Crystal to harass the Orks on Carl II, provoking them into preparing an ambush. When Luna’s fleet arrived, Mekboy Karch saw a chance to challenge the powerful Iron Pincers Chandler.

• Lynn launched the Purple Crystal from Dead World B to deploy spore sacs around Carl II.
• The Rippers and other Tyranid creatures annoyed the Orks with daily attacks before the Purple Crystal withdrew.
• Iron Pincers Chandler ordered the Orks to set traps and hide their fleet throughout the asteroid belt.
• After waiting two days, the Orks detected Luna’s fleet entering the system.
• Karch, an ambitious Mekboy leading an ambush force, saw Luna’s arrival as an opportunity to prove himself stronger than Chandler.

Mekboy Karch ambushed the human fleet with a swarm of Brute Ram Ships, damaging the Rule of Discipline’s shields. Luna ordered the use of a forbidden Dark Age weapon, and its Warp vortices swallowed Karch and the final wave of Orks.

• Karch saw the human fleet split apart and waited until the Rule of Discipline was isolated from the two ships advancing ahead.
• Karch launched asteroids and 121 Brute Ram Ships at the Rule of Discipline, disabling a destroyer and lowering the warship’s Void Shield reserves to fifty-two percent.
• Luna ordered Secret Weapon Number Three deployed after warning that shield damage could force the fleet to retreat for repairs.
• The Rule of Discipline launched two Shadow Vortex Torpedoes, which opened Warp vortices among the charging Ork ram ships.
• The vortices swallowed the remaining ram ships, including Karch’s, and dragged Karch into the Warp.

Luna’s advance fleet destroyed an Ork scrap fleet but lost the initiative after an ambush, so she ordered repairs before confronting the Orks. Meanwhile, Tzeentch Cultists secretly sabotaged Lynn’s fleet preparations, but Rena’s Genestealers detected and reversed their interference.

• The advance fleet destroyed the Ork scrap ships with almost no losses, leaving Luna and her officers grim about the failed campaign’s opening.
• Luna ordered the fleet to fall back, repair damaged vessels, and prepare every ship for combat within three days.
• Luna’s allies infiltrated Brevis Prime Hive’s maintenance crews, where Tzeentch Cultists subtly altered ship systems, parts, and records to cause failures during battle.
• Lynn knew about the infiltration and allowed it to proceed, confident that he had ways to counter the Cultists’ sabotage.
• Rena’s Genestealers watched the Cultists, restored altered data, replaced compromised parts, and destroyed corruption traps.

The Tzeentch Cultists tried to sabotage the fleet’s preparations, but the Genestealers quietly thwarted them and an Ogryn discarded their corruption trap. With the fleet progressing a third faster than planned, Lynn asked how things were going on Carl II.

• Rena used the Shadow in the Warp to detect and reverse the Cultists’ changes to the fleet’s blueprints.
• The Cultists discovered that the cruiser’s senior officers were Genestealers and chose to target the maintenance supervisor instead.
• The Cultists planted a psychic corruption trap in a document, but the Ogryn supervisor crumpled it and threw it away while reading a picture book.
• A stealthy Cultist saw the supervisor discard the document and reported back, leaving the Cultists dismayed that their plan had failed.
• Lynn noted that the expeditionary fleet was nearing completion a third faster than expected and asked Rena about Luna’s progress on Carl II.

After five costly but inconclusive engagements on Carl II, Luna blockaded the Ork-held station and sent infiltrators to locate Iron Pincers Chandler. Lynn’s Tyranids launched their own infiltration, beginning a race to find the Warboss first.

• Luna’s fleet won five engagements but failed to capture Carl II, so Luna halted direct assaults and ordered a search for Chandler.
• Lynn and Isolde concluded that killing the Warboss was the only way to defeat the Orks and that whoever found him first would gain the advantage.
• The Purple Crystal sent ten Lictors and over a hundred Ymgarl Genestealers to infiltrate Carl II.
• Luna deployed 103 Sicarian Infiltrators and sent Tzeentch Cultists into Carl II during the previous landing.
• Tyranid infiltrators and Luna’s forces began searching Carl II for Iron Pincers Chandler.

Lictors, Ymgarl, and Sicarian Infiltrators infiltrated Carl II and discovered that its core zone was guarded by powerful Ork Psykers. After nearly a hundred Infiltrators were killed by psychic attacks, Luna learned that a Psychic Power Boss occupied the station’s deepest reaches.

• Lictors, Ymgarl, and Sicarian Infiltrators slipped through Carl II’s outer and middle zones toward the core.
• Three Lictors and ten Sicarian Infiltrators clashed in a middle-zone passageway; the Lictors retreated wounded, while five Infiltrators were wrecked.
• Sicarian Infiltrators entered the core zone, where psychic attacks killed nearly a hundred of them without revealing their enemy.
• The Lictors sensed the powerful psychic presence, learned that at least fifty psychic units guarded the core, and withdrew from Carl II.
• A Tzeentch Cultist told Luna about the Ork Psykers and the Psychic Power Boss in the core zone, and Luna decided she needed help from Him.