Major Narrative Events of 9th Edition

As 9th edition comes to a close, I figure I should round up and summarize the major narrative events of 9th edition. Why? Because I see tons of comments in social media whining about how the "story in 40K has not moved forward" or nothing major has happened or "the Imperium always wins." That last part, in particular, really annoys me because it's simply not true.

I'm glad to see some Chaos players who don't mind the Imperium winning - they just want to see Chaos go beyond cliche mustache-twirling villains who just act evil for no reason other than to get beaten up like dogs and sent packing. They want their faction to feel like a real threat, whose invasions have far-reaching consequences, like the repercussions of the Gathering Storm where the Great Rift opens and the Imperium - and galaxy - is cut in half. Did a catastrophe of similar magnitude occur in 9th edition? Not really - but we do have some major shifts in the story going forward, and as you know, a second Primarch has returned to the Imperium during this darkest hour. But that's not the only momentuous event that has transpired, and today, we'll be taking a good look at the stuff with tremendous impacts on the story - and the Imperium - going forward. Nothing as galaxy-changing as the Great Rift, to be sure, but still pretty massive if you ask me.

For more details and accuracy, you probably can find videos, spoilers and other stuff online. Oculus Imperia, Arbitor Ian, Grimdark Narrator, Luetin09 and Chapter Master Valrak have videos, and you can search up ShaskaiWarhambits on Reddit for his detailed summary. Instead, I'll just summarize the major events so that you know what to expect going into 10th edition, and whatever momentuous events have transpired. If you just want the "what do I need to know going into 10th edition," skip the long walls of text, scroll all the way down and read the To Sum Narrative 9th Edition Up section below.

Warzone Charadon

Basically, Typhus and the Death Guard and a bunch of allied Chaos warbands including a few from the Black Legion invaded the Charadon Sector, conquering a bunch of planets and finally making their way to the major Forge World of Metallica. The Metallican Gates, consisting of the Feiror, Rhodoir and Brezantius systems, which protect the warp routes leading to Metalica, were attacked by Typhus's Plague Fleets and Death Guard and his allies. The fringe systems of Chromyd, Alumax, and Duralim were sort of...locked in some stalemate, though Fabricator-General Zhleng's pulling back of Skitarii and Mechanicus forces from the fringe systems broke that stalemate, but fortunately, Cadians, Knights of House Raven and the Excruciators held, and even a Deimos Mechanicus fleet showed up, armed with anti-daemon weapons and supported by Grey Knights, and helped relieve the siege.

Unfortunately, though the Metallican Gates stood strong, Typhus conducted a foul ritual on St Bartolph's Throne and opened a warp tunnel to Metallica itself, and also suddenly turning the tides of battle in the Chaos factions' favor because the dead arose and beseiged the Imperial defenders. Unfortunately, this same warp tunnel was pretty much a warp rift named the Sore that prevented Imperial reinforcements from reaching Metallica, and thus the Forge World stood alone against Typhus and the Death Guard. Khleng realized that he was pretty much screwed.

Kolossi, the homeworld of House Raven, was invaded by Be'lakor and his Disciples, and they spirited it away deep into Imperium Nihilus. Now this is a major event - just like the fall of Cadia, we lost a major planet of the Imperium - a Knight World and home to the biggest Questor Mechanicus House in the Imperium. So all those Chaos fanboys screaming their heads off about Chaos never winning, demanding for another Cadia to fall or whatever because they apparently aren't impressed with unnamed or insignificant worlds falling to Chaos (just see their comments regarding the Choral Engine on Malakbael and how they view that world as insignificant despite Angron scoring a complete victory) can shut the feth up and feth off. Holy Terra, these rabid fanboys are giving other Chaos players a bad name.

Fortunately, 80% of House Raven are off planet, and they are now a fleet-based Knight House. Still, losing 1/5 of your forces and Knight suits is a pretty massive blow. Ugh.

Abbess Sanctorum Marvenn Vahl - because she received a shiny new model and they have to write her into the current timeline and narrative events somehow - showed up with an Adepta Sororitas fleet complete with regiments of Imperial Guard, allied Space Marines, Knight Lances and even several Custodes, beat up the Death Guard and Thousand Sons at the Tri-Forge Cluster in Phlegyr Sector and saved the Imperial defenders there, and continued moving on to purge the Chaos forces in the Charadon Sector. Unfortunately, this being grimdark 40K, she ended up annihilating Imperial defenders alongside the Archenemy, with the noblebright Ultramarines protesting, only to relent because of Vahl's seal. She's a High Lady of Terra, after all. Ugh. Anyway, they reclaimed Feiror system, but...y'know, pyrrhic victory because grimdark and the Imperium can't have nice things.

Typhus and the Death Guard fought through the Skitarii and Mechanicus forces of Metallica, and despite the Skitarii Veteran Cohorts dominating the meta at that time and probably kicking the asses of the poor Death Guard and other Chaos warbands who only had one wound Legionnaires back then, Typhus and an elite core of Terminators managed to sneak into Khleng's sanctum after suffering heavy losses. The Dark Mechanicum dudes they were escorting plugged the Nemesis Wurm into poor Fabricator-general Khleng and infected him with...warp magicks and scrapcode, mutating him into it that shall not be named.

With his objective achieved, Typhus and his surviving subordinates left, but they lost 80% of their forces. Totally worth it because they crippled Metallica. Needless to say, this was a nice reflection of the meta at the time - Death Guard winning on objectives and points despite being all but tabled by Skitarii Veteran Cohorts and other Adeptus Mechanicus armies. Hey, I'm not a meta-chaser - if you've been following my blog, you know I have a Skitarii army since 2015, and my Draconis IV forge world uses the Ryza Forge World dogma instead of Lucius. Anyway, not only did Khleng die a horrible death, Metallica suffered repeated Nemesis Wurm infections that continue to feth around with their industrial production, destroy technological knowledge, cause irreversible damage and...well, safe to say Metallica is crippled and doomed to a slow death. Yikes. Kolossi was also lost, and though Lord Grevan swore an oath to search for it and wreak retribution on those responsible for its spiriting away, I doubt he'll ever be able to defeat Be'lakor and his Disciples. Oh, and House Raven heard Inquisitorial information that there's a Daemon World rumored to be in Nihilus, with Chaos Knights claiming to hail from the House Korvax providing a clue to what had transpired on now corrupted Kolossi and their once noble Knight pilots and steeds.

Though I'm not at all against Chaos having this victory, as a Knight player, losing a major Knight world and 20% of House Raven - who are corrupted into Chaos Knights - hurts. And I mean hurts a lot. Ugh. This makes me sad as the Tanith after they lost their homeworld. Sigh.

Warzone Octarius

Everyone heard of Inquisitor Fidus Kryptman? He even shows up in one of Graham McNeil's Ultramarine novels, meeting Uriel Ventris. Cool guy, except until he started nuking and enacting Exterminatus on Imperial Worlds just to deny biomass to the invading Hive Fleet Leviathan. What's cool though is that he sent a bunch of Genestealers to the Ork Empire in the Octarius Sector - ruled by the Overfiend of Octarius - to lure the Tyranids into the Orks so that they can wipe each other out or at least buy time for the Imperium to...do something later. Anyway, the Tyranids gorged themselves on the unlimited buffet of greenskin biomass, while the Orks indulged themselves in slaughter and combat while growing bigger and stronger with every fight. So...uh, Kryptman ended up making the situation worse somehow.

Enter Inquisitor Nashir. Drawing up the Cordon Impenetra, he all but abandoned the worlds inside the Octarius Sector and instead withdrew all their military assets and resources to the worlds in the Cordon Impenetra, sub-sectors on the border of the Octarius Sector that would contain the war between the Orks and the Tyranids. Of note is the system of Sigma Ulstari, a forge world system that was crucial to the containment effort by supplying the materiel required for war. Unfortunately, the Pankallis Breakout happened, with Tyranids and Orks spilling out of the Octarius Sector into the Cordon Impenetra before the worlds were fully prepared to repel them and contain the outbreak. Yikes.

The Semythis System was conquered by Orks while the Gydisk System was overrun by Tyranids. Fortunately, the Knights of House Yato - if you recall one narrative campaign I organized a couple of years ago - fought off the Tyranids alongside a Black Templars Crusade, the Encarmine Angels, Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Guard forces - and saved one of the planets, uh, Gydisk Sigma. The Orks continued onward to Kernak and Kusolst, while the Tyranids swarmed toward Anelanni and Bianzeer.

They were countered by the Deathwatch, who were allied by the Dark Krakens - a Salamanders Successor Chapter that have an Index Astartes in White Dwarf - and Obsidian Jaguars, as well as Skitarii legions, Titans and Knights from Ryza and Estaban. Did you say Estaban? Yeah, that's the second homeworld of Legio Tempestus, alongside Orestes. Or Legio Tempestor? Maybe they changed their name slightly to Legio Tempestor in Estaban since the Titan Legion in Orestes is already Legio Tempestus. Both descended from the same Legio Tempestus from Mars, though.

House Xiphon, hailing from the Knight World of Kernak IV, fell to the Orks. Ouch. The Forge World of Kenark III also fell to the Orks. Double ouch. The Ryzan fleet sent there was almost annihilated, and surviving Imperial forces withdrew to Kernark II. The Annelanni system also fell to the Tyranids, with the Knights of House Feurus on Soebus being destroyed, and the fortress world of Vand and its regiments of Imperial Guard being cracked open by hyperadaptive and evolving Tyranids. The Tyranids also gained aerial superiority in Phrankis. For Emperor's sake, stop killing my Knights and Guardsmen.

Fortunately, against all odds, the hardy miners and Guardsmen of the Bianzeer's Hollow System, reinforced by Deathwatch, held against the Tyranids and even secured a victory there. Finally. The Kusolst system also held, thanks to Nashir supplying them with void shields and tanks. It's also the best defended system in the sub-sector, and also had a large Imperial Navy presence, so they repelled and defeated the Orks and Tyranids that came at them. Phew.

Unfortunately, Xessor and Suvardosha were next, with the Tyranids and Orks on the way to attack those two systems respectively. We never find out what happened to them, so...whatever.

Oh, side story about the Veloria Experiment. Too long, didn't read? Inquisitor Van Roth and the Deathwatch's attempts to exploit and make use of a stolen Ork Mek's crown that was capable of disrupting the Tyranids' synapse failed, and they and their Aeldari allies (don't ask) were annihilated by the Orks.

Other side stories: Khornate warband plunging into the Octarius Sector and killing Orks and Tyranids alike to get BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! I think they are in Da Maw. Necrons awakened inside one of the planets within the Octarius Sector and began killing Tyranids, including bio-titans. This was the time before Tyranids had a new codex and dominated the meta, instead having to rely on the Hive Fleet Leviathan supplement from these campaign books and Crusher Stampede Army of Renown from White Dwarf to remain competitive, so...the Necrons with their Core vehicles and Silent King could wipe the floor with them.

Back to the main story, so...yeah, as I said, we're forgetting about Inquisitor Nashir, Xessor and Suvardosha, and instead we are focusing on the forge world of Sigma-Ulstari and its system. Tyranids invaded, first attacking the ocean world of Deuteria and got their asses kicked by the locals and Imperial Guardsmen in there. Or navy. Nah, Imperial Guardsmen on seafaring ships. You know what I mean.

Other Tyranids attacked Sigma-Ulstari directly, but they were routed by the Skitarii Legions, Imperial Guard regiments, Titan Legions and Knight Lances there, first weakened by the toxic wastelands that covered the forge world. A second wave came, and they were annihilated once more, though at a steeper cost in Imperial lives. Unfortunately, the third and final wave came, much larger than the previous waves - and worse, the Tyranids in this wave had evolved and adapted to the toxic wastelands in Sigma-Ulstari, and were about to wipe out the Imperial defenders when Warboss Tuskagrob Wurldkilla showed up in a massive Ork fleet. Remember the Khornate warband I mentioned earlier? Yeah, they've killed a bunch of Orks and Tyranids, and they stole Wurldkilla's kill. So without Tyranids to fight, he ended up leading a Waaagh! to Sigma-Ulstari, where he exterminated the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan, drawing their attention away from the Imperial defenders.

Unfortunately, once he wiped out the Tyranids, he turned his attention to the beleaguered Imperial defenders, bringing with him Gargants and Orkeosauruses (basically super Gargantuan Squiggoths). Fabricator General Einrekh Phlagustok realized how screwed he and his forge world were, especially when his calls to Inquisitor Nashir and other worlds in the Cordon Impenetra for aid went unanswered (I told you he wouldn't show up again). Fortunately, a Black Templars Crusade fleet and Task Force V of the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus, commanded by High Marshal Helbrecht and High Admiral Herika Ajon respectively, warped into the system, destroyed both the fleets of the Orks and Hive Fleet Leviathan, landed on Sigma-Ulstari, and Helbrecht - sporting a shiny new model after crossing the Rubicon Primaris and benefiting from the Black Templars' unique rules from their new codex supplement - kicked Wurldkilla's ass while his Black Templars with their brand new Primaris Marshal, Sword Brethren, axe-wielding Castellan, Emperor's Champion, and Primaris Crusader squads nuked the poor Orkeosauruses. Uphold the Honor of the Emperor, baby!

Right, and this was where my own Black Templar Crusade came from, and how they ended up showing up in Gydisk Sigma to kick the Tyranids off the planet and aid the Knights of House Yato, Adeptus Mechanicus, Encarmine Angels and Imperial Guard in winning back the system. Well...just Gydisk Sigma, not the whole system.

On Octaria, though, something tipped the balance. With the appearance of the Great Rift, Khorne launched the Blood Crusade and massacred Orks and Tyranids alike. Then just as suddenly, the Khorne Daemons vanished after eight hours because...you know. Khorne. And that was a corny...ahem, Khorny way to make an exit. Regardless, both Octarius Orks and Hive Fleet Leviathan were heavily depleted after the massacre, but the Tyranids couldn't feed on Daemons because they didn't leave any biomass behind, so the Orks had an advantage, which they pressed with the Overfiend calling a Waaagh! to scour the Octarius system clean of the Tyranids. The Overfiend killed the Swarmlord, who promptly reincarnated, adapted, evolved and outthought the relatively simple-minded Orks.

Long story short, the Swarmlord led the Tyranid swarms to conquer each Ork world in the Octarius system, thus isolating Octaria itself, and then it launched an attack on the Overfiend himself while denying the warboss reinforcements from other Orks. It failed to exhaust the Overfiend despite throwing countless hordes and Carnifexes at him, but then it cut the cables to his power klaw and rendered it dead weight, thus forcing an opening that it exploited to kill the Overfiend. The Swarmlord then devoured the Overfiend and ate his...brain. Yeah. Gross. Apparently, the new Ork models and Beastsnagga boxset didn't help them. Uh, now that I think about it, the cover illustration for Warzone Octarius Book 2: Critical Mass was a massive spoiler because it literally showed the Swarmlord chewing on the poor Overfiend's head. In any event, Hive Fleet Leviathan won the Octarius war, and the Orks are about to get slaughtered. This is bad news, and presumably it has something to do with 10th edition and the Hive Fleet Leviathan tendril that shows up in Segmentum Pacificus.

Warzone Nachmund

Well, not much to say here other than Vigilus was quite literally alone. Won't go into too many details, but basically Chaos - led by Black Legion warbands - conquered all the other worlds in the Vigilus system. The cover of Vigilus Alone is misleading. Despite Abaddon being featured, he hardly showed up and instead remained on his precious Vengeful Spirit to throw a tantrum at the dude running off with his ship. Or something. But he never actually took part in the war to follow. Anyway, on Vigilus, people mistakenly believed that Marneus Calgar was dead following his one-sided defeat by the Despoiler and venerated him as a Saint. The fools - do they not know he just got a new shiny model after being Primaris-ized in the Vigilus Defiant campaign back in the later end of 8th edition? No way they'll kill him off that quickly in Vigilus Ablaze, not when they need to milk his shiny new model. That said, the faith manifested in many different ways. The Adepta Sororitas of the Crusade of Mina's Consecration somehow arrived on Vigilus instead of Yolaris, their intended destination, and they recruited the Imperials to their cause, making use of the faith that had sprung, and began purging Vigilus of Traitors, Xenos and Heretics.

Meanwhile, Inquisitor Erasmus Cartavolnus discovered that the Black Legion had been constructing Noctlith Crowns all over Vigilus to widen the Warp Rift to swallow Vigilus. He stirred the Imperial defenders to a zealous frenzy, recruiting Imperial Guardsmen, Knights, Skitarii and Battle Sisters and launched a Crusade against the Chaos Warbands still on Vigilus, who were in disarray and infighting after Abaddon's departure when the Vengful Spirit almost got nuked by a vortex missile. Or Deathstrike missile. Same thing, really. Anyway, despite being a Crusade of mere mortals (except for the Knights), buoyed by their faith in Saint Calgar, they pretty much demolished the forces of Chaos and wrecked the Noctlith Crowns, thus saving Vigilus from being swallowed by the warp. Celestine also showed up to speak to the Canoness and purge the Hivesprawl of Dontoria, which was infected by Nurgle. Being Battle Sisters, they pretty much put Dontoria to the torch and burn it.

But Vigilus stood alone, and Abaddon ignored it for now because he had something to do at Dharrovar. And then he disappeared to enact the Arks of Omen, instead sending Haarken Worldclaimer to obtain the Nachmund Gauntlet in his stead. Meanwhile, Imperial forces launched an assault on Dharrovar, the fallen Knight World that is home to House Mandrakor. They, uh, failed. Instead, they were almost wiped out when Haarken Worldclaimer showed up with a vast host of Black Legion and other Chaos warbands, and they were forced to retreat. Even though they evacuated from Dharrovar, the Imperial forces suffered tremendous casualties. Ouch. They were then harried by the vast armada of Haarken Worldclaimer and chased all the way back to Imperium Sanctus.

Sangua Terra, the main world on the other side of the Nachmund Gauntlet (and thus the mirror to Vigilus), was where the Imperials made their last stand, forming the Sanctus Wall. Unfortunately, given the colossal size of the Black Legion armada, they knew they were pretty much frakked. Fortunately, Battle Group Lambdax from the Indomitus Crusade was coming to reinforce them, but they wouldn't make it in time. So Lady Admiral Quirin Prisca launched a suicidal mission with a sizable fleet taken from Sanctus Wall's defenses to stall the Traitors' advance. She tried to make use of the Traitors' disunity to her advantage, and the Imperial fleet managed to inflict good damage on the Heretics' armada. Unfortunately, so vast was Haarken Worldclaimer's forces that defeat was inevitable, and her fleet was destroyed, though he was impressed with her skill and tactics, and the courage and determination of the Imperial Navy.

Their sacrifice was not in vain. A few survivors rejoined Sanctus Wall, reinforcements from Battle Group Lambdax have finally arrived, and even now retreating Imperial forces continued to trickle through the Nachmund Gauntlet. Unfortunately, Lady Admiral Prisca had been captured by Haarken Worldclaimer, who even now continued to torture her for vital information while planning to reveal her to demoralize the Imperials later. Apparently, because they would be demoralized when hearing of her survival after venerating her as a Saint and naming a battleship after her. Right. For now, he ordered the vast Black Legion armada to make the jump to the Sanctus Wall.

...and yeah, it ends on a cliffhanger. That's it. I guess we never get to see the climactic clash between the might of an Indomitus Crusade Battle Group and a vast Black Legion armada.

Pariah Nexus

The Silent King had arrived and united the dynasties under his rule, and under his command, they destroy the Imperial armies gathered in the Pariah Nexus, his war barque showing up often. He eradicated the humans on Rorgaestis III, atomized the Bhorsis and its moon, along with the humans on it, with his war barque, and even destroyed a sanctified stronghold of Adepta Sororitas who had proven immune to the effects of the pylons. Eventually, the humans were pushed back to the edges of the Pariah Nexus, though they did achieve a couple of victories here and there.

However, this was not the only Pariah Nexus - there were others in the fringe of the galaxy and they were growing, and would all link up to cut off the warp from the galaxy forever.

Meanwhile, Battle Group Kallidus and its groupmaster, Marran, were stuck in the growing Pariah Nexus, and unable to send an astropathic message for help. Epistolary Thengrest of the Imperial Fists then gathered psykers to combine their powers to send an astropathic message from within the Pariah Nexus, though that obviously came at the cost of burning all of them out. Yikes. First, though, the psykers gathered on Cherrist, which was the first world where the Imperium achieved victory against the Necrons thanks to Stern and the Adepta Sororitas. Lieutenant Stornvor of the Imperial Fists fortified the systems while Marshal Arnulf of the Back Templars and allied Sisters of Battle from the Order of our Martyred Lady and Stormtroopers...ahem, Militarum Tempestus launched a counteroffensive against the Necrons.

The Black Templars needed help in the Vernarius system from both the Imperial Fists and the tanks of the Death Korps of Krieg to purge the Necrons, though preferably they would have destroyed the Necrons before the Imperial Fists arrived to fortify the place. Unfortunately, despite their initial victories, the Silent King arrived and began crushing the Imperial resistance. Fortunately, they defended long enough for the psykers to give up their lives to send an astropathic message.

And...Roboute Guilliman is coming. He has directed his fleet toward the Nephilim sub-sector, toward the Pariah Nexus.

Arks of Omen

Again, you probably want to watch Arbitor Ian or Valrak's channel, or read ShaskaiWarhambits on Reddit for more details, but here's a quick summary of the major events happening throughout the series.

Abaddon met Vashtorr, who convinced him to ally with him to find fragments of the Key. In return, Vashtorr constructed vast space hulk ships named Arks of Omen, while Abaddon supplied him with the manpower needed to crew these colossal Arks and set across the galaxy to find these Key fragments. Apparently, the Key is some galaxy-changing weapon that would give them the edge required to win against the Imperium. Abaddon could defeat the Imperium once and for all and rule the galaxy, while Vashtorr would ascend to become the fifth Chaos God. I guess it's good to dream, eh? Anyway, they send these Arks of Omen out in Balefleets, which are massive Chaos armadas with the Ark as a flagship.

One of the Key fragments could be found in Malakbael, where the Choral Engine emitted a psychic beacon within Imperium Nihilus that allowed navigators to plot relatively safe routes. Indomitus Fleet Quartus arrived and under Fleetmaster Trincus Abconcis, they initially made use of the Choral Engine to conquer and take back Imperial systems from foul xenos. Unfortunately, the Inquisitor, Glori Emagna - who introduced Abconcis to the Choral Engine in the first place - and a Grey Knights strike force led by Grand Master Drystann Cromm, warned him of Angron and the World Eaters, who arrived, smashed apart the defenses of Indomitus Fleet Quartus, landed on Malakbael, caused Khorne Daemons to be summoned - including eight Bloodthirsters - so that they could join the fun, smashed the Choral Engine, blew up the planet, and set off the Murder-curse that infected 80% of Indomitus Fleet Quartus and turned them into Khorne Berzerkers/Cultists, and caused the whole damned fleet to be declared Excommunicate Traitoris. Only the Grey Knights, Custodes and Sisters of Silence were immune to the murder-curse. Bloody hell. Oh, and Emagna got her head cut off by a Bloodthirster while Cromm was split in half by Angron.

Hey, what a way to introduce Angron getting a shiny new miniature alongside the likes of his brothers, Magnus and Mortarion, and also the first standalone World Eaters codex ever!

Vashtorr then attacked the Rock, seeking the Key Fragment - revealed to be the Tulchucha. The Dark Angels, unaware of Vashtorr's plan, had initially arrived in the Valvire system because they had heard rumors of the Fallen running around in Marwent's Reach. Already, Task Force XII of Fleet Primus was there, headed by Ultramarines Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius, and reinforced by Knights of House Raven because they heard that Chaos Knights of House Korvax - their corrupted brethren and probably holding a clue to the disappearance of Kolossi - were there. Unfortunately for the Dark Angels, a Balefleet under the command of Vashtorr warped in real close and began besieging the Rock. For a moment, Azrael - who only recently crossed the Rubicon because he wanted a shiny new miniature for himself like Calgar and the others, and thus not at 100% strength - lost to Vashtorr, and it appeared that the Arkifane would succeed in grabbing the Key fragment.

But Be'lakor being the asshole that he was, warped in - the so-called "Fallen" revealing themselves to be Disciples of Be'lakor - and royally screwed Vashtorr over. Partially because he didn't want his rival to become the fifth Chaos God, I guess. They teleported back to the surface of the Rock, fought some more, and then Be'lakor laughed and ran away when the Ultramarines and House Raven Knights from earlier showed up to reinforce the Dark Angels. They basically kicked Vashtorr's ass, and he was forced to retreat.

For some reason, Farsight was...there. With a fancy new Crisis suit because he's long due a shiny new, updated miniature. Yay. His Enclaves were under attack by Orks who were trying to outdakka the shooting specialists T'au, and he was about to win once and for all when a Chaos Balefleet warp into the system and messed up his plans, and realizing that the T'au couldn't defeat both enemies, he decided to lure them into...you guess it, Arthas Moloch. While the Alpha Legionnaires masquerading as Deathwatch snuck into Arthas Moloch and stole an ancient Dark Angels fighter jet from the days of the Horus Heresy, the Black Legion Daemon Prince leading the Balefleet chased down Farsight, along with the Orks who always wanted a good scrap. Farsight cunningly learned from his old colleague, Shadowsun, the art of Kauyon, and baited both foes into some ground on Arthas Moloch where he spilled their blood and unleashed Khorne Daemons and Bloodletters on them. While the Black Legion and Orks were embroiled in fighting the Bloodletters and other Khorne Daemons, Farsight and his T'au ran away.

The Orks weren't impressed, and the Warboss demanded that his Weirdboy get rid of the Daemons, which he complied by blowing up the structure that was powering the warp portal where the Bloodletters were coming from. That banished all the Khorne Daemons, and the Black Legion decided to cut their losses and leave, especially since the Daemon Prince dude heard that Vashtorr had his fragment. Suddenly finding themselves bereft of any opponents to krump, the Orks decided to beat it too.

Once both villains were gone, Farsight returned to Arthas Moloch and discovered that...yeah, it was coming back to life! Vegetation was regrowing, and the soil had become healthier. Apparently, with the warp structure destroyed by the Weirdboy, whatever daemonic energies that were fouling the place had dissipated, and the world was returning to normal and life finds a way.

The Dark Angels, edgy and furious after Vashtorr's invasion of the Rock, went to the Somnium Stars to take revenge on him. They knew this was a trap because all the prisoners they captured from Vashtorr's failed conquest of the Rock all said Somnium Stars at the same time when interrogated, but they still couldn't allow this slight to pass. The full might of the 1st Legion - the Dark Angels had gathered all of their successors together in a single colossal armada - had arrived, but what they found further enraged them.

A twisted parody of Caliban awaited them, renamed Wyrmwood. Apparently, Caliban was the Key because it was a leftover planet with technology from the Old Ones used to make the Webway or something, so Vashtorr was collecting pieces of Caliban - after it was blown up during the battle between Lion El'Jonson and Luther, the Dark Angels and the Fallen - to put it back together. While the Dark Angels descended upon Wyrmwood, they were ambushed by Abaddon's armada, led by the newly repaired Vengeful Spirit, and pretty much suffered a bunch of losses. Worse, when Azrael and friends arrived on Wyrmwood/Caliban, looking to beat up Vashtorr, they found Angron instead. So they ended up being the ones whose asses were kicked. Ouch.

Meanwhile, a new fleet showed up - and guess who, it's the Blood Angels and Dante with his shiny new miniature after crossing the Rubicon! Apparently, Dante and the Blood Angels had been tracking down Balefleets and boarding Arks of Omen, only to find them scoured of Traitors and some trees or vegetation growing in them. This led them to none other than the Lion, who had been gathering Loyal Fallen during the events of Mike Brooks's novel, The Lion: Son of the Forest, and redeeming them. No longer known as the Fallen, these redeemed Dark Angels are now the...Risen!

Cheesy, I know.

Anyway, Dante informed the Dark Angels fleet that Lion El'Jonson, their Primarch, was there with him, but he had deployed through means unknowable. The combined Dark Angels and Blood Angels fleets - the Angels of Death! - smashed apart Abaddon's reeling fleet, while Dante and his Sanguinary Guard, along with companies of Blood Angels landed in drop pods and aircraft, bolstering the beleaguered Dark Angels and routing the World Eaters and Dark Mechanicum dudes there.

Unfortunately, they still couldn't beat Angron. By now, Angron had massacred the Deathwing and half-killed Belial, he had kicked Azrael's ass, and now he was slaughtering the Sanguinary Guard while smacking poor Dante about. The poor Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus just can't catch a break. Before Angron could behead Dante, though, the Lion appeared and dueled him in an epic clash that had them rolling about and smashing their surroundings like a kaiju film. Also, to celebrate both the Lion and Angron having new models in 9th edition! The Risen also showed up and reinforced the Dark Angels, though Azrael seemed pretty pissed off.

Eventually, Lion El'Jonson defeated Angron, banishing him with the Emperor's Shield by smashing the edge into his face and pretty much cutting off his head. However, while they were busy, Vashtorr had teleported aboard the Rock to grab Tulchucha, who was more than willing to leave with him. With that, Vashtorr had all the major key fragments on hand to complete his Key, and Caliban/Wyrmwood was complete. Suddenly, it began...uh, shaking and emanating all sorts of weird empyric energies, and the Dark Angels and Blood Angels realized that they would be royally frakked if they remained on the planet when whatever Vashtorr was doing was completed.

So they beat it out of there, flying away on extraction craft and evacuating the planet. Even Lion, who joined his sons and retreated. Then Caliban/Wyrmwood vanished, and apparently, Vashtorr was using this ancient technology from the Old Ones to traverse the Webway or...something. I dunno. Abaddon, with his fleet ravaged from the combined might of the Dark Angels and Blood Angels, tactically withdrew, but he was laughing because Chaos won. However, he was less amused when he heard that Lion El'Jonson crashed the party, and he began to wonder if a newly returned Loyalist Primach was going to show up every time one of his plans were brought to fruition.

Meanwhile, in the epilogue, Lord Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz discovered that things had gone to feth, and that Abaddon and Vashtorr had succeeded, and so he utilized all Inquisitorial assets to...do something, I guess.

To Sum Narrative 9th Edition Up

Metallica is crippled.

Kolossi has been spirited away by Be'lakor, and House Raven lost their home world. The corrupted Knights on the now Daemon World have formed House Korvax, which House Raven swears to destroy.

The Overfiend of Octarius has been killed and devoured by the Swarmlord. Hive Fleet Leviathan has won the Octarius War, and the Orks fight amongst themselves to determine a new Overfiend.

Vigilus somehow continues to stand alone, the invasion of the Chaos Knight World Dharrovar failed, and Haarken Worldclaimer is leading a colossal armada through the Nachmund Gauntlet to invade Imperium Sanctus.

The Silent King is now in the Pariah Nexus with his giant war barque, and Roboute Guilliman is about to go meet him in battle.

Abaddon and Vashtorr have achieved their objectives with the Arks of Omen and Chaos won. Indomitus Fleet Quartus is gone, turned traitor mostly. Arthas Moloch is restored and Farsight will probably recolonize it for his Enclaves. Vashtorr has his Key, but at least the Imperium has a second Primarch back. Caliban has been put back together as Wyrmwood. Perhaps that will have an impact on the Dark Angels later?

What do you think will happen in 10th Edition? I know Hive Fleet Leviathan invading from Segmentum Pacificus will take a major spotlight, but I'm pretty sure they'll continue to devote dedicated narratives to these arcs as well.