Mechanicum Infantry

I assembled the Mechanicum infantry today. Will do the automata tomorrow or whenever I have the time. For now, I'm satisfied with some progress. We shall see.

Most of them are destined for the Dark Mechanicum. Only the Magi and Tech-priests Auxilia and a couple of Thallax are for my Loyalist Cybernetica force that serves as auxiliary or allies to my Knights. The rest will be subordinated to the Dark Mechanicum. It will be really cool, I hope.

Anyway, we shall see!

The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum lore spoilers

While everyone is doing reviews on the datasheets, new miniatures, detachments, formations, and even the new Dark Mechanicum army rules, I'm going to focus on the lore. That's what you're here for, right? I think. Or maybe not. Whatever, it's what I'm here for, and so I'll do my usual writeup.

First things first - The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is much, much, much better than the Martian Civil War. You guys already know that I was disappointed with the main Horus Heresy book, but The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is everything I've hoped for, and better. I love it, and I can't find anything to complain about it. It's just amazing. So yeah, I might sound biased because I'm a Knight and Mechanicum fan, but for what it's worth, if you love those factions, you should love this book. It's incredible. Astartes presence is kept to the absolute minimum. There are a couple of mentions regarding Traitor Iron Hands Astartes, but they don't appear for more than a couple of sentences, and a footnote - they are Iron Hands of Clan Ayreas, who accompanied Magister-Lictanex Regulus, sworn to Horus Lupercal, and...even Regulus himself didn't participate much. Apparently, he and the Iron Hands as well as his personal Taghmata force infiltrated Magma City to steal Koriel Zeth's noosphere to distribute it to the Traitors, but that's all they get. Oh, and the Imperial Fists who show up for ammunitions, withdraw, and blockade the Red Planet, but unlike in The Martian Civil War, they don't receive any focus.

Everything else is pure Mechanicum versus Mechanicum, and it absolutely rocks. Lore, I mean. They also mentioned Sigismund and Camba Diaz of the Imperial Fists trying to salvage munitions, power armor and other stockpiles from Zagreus Kane's forge, or Lukas Chrom, but again, that's a minor footnote. Speaking of which, thank Omnissiah Lukas Chrom is not a major antagonist in this book. In The Martian Civil War, he's literally a Saturday morning cartoon villain who keeps getting defeated before running away and coming back again and again, like an irritating pest that you wish would just die already. Here, it's a single extended campaign regarding Magma City, so you don't have to worry about that weird, episodic and repetitive narrative revolving around Lukas Chrom showing up again and again.

Frankly speaking, the narrative for the Doom of Magma City is much better written than the one in The Martian Civil War. I don't know if it's because it's expanding upon the events already laid down and fleshed out by Graham McNeill in his novel, Mechanicum - which, by the way, is an awesome book and I would totally recommend, I would even say it's my favorite Horus Heresy novel, above even Graham's A Thousand Sons - but it doesn't feel...shallow, pointless and silly like in the Martian Civil War.

Anyway, enough waffling (yeah, I've been influenced by Valrak).

Horus Lupercal, seeking to usurp the Emperor and take over the Imperium as its new master, wishes to secure the loyalty of Mars, the Forge World Primus, and sends his Mechanicum envoy - Magister-Lictanex Regulus - to the Red Planet, along with Traitor Iron Hands aboard the ship, Entropy. This is just after the Isstvan atrocity, and 5 years since Horus has taken over as Warmaster. Horus has promised the Fabricator-General, Kelbor-Hal, a myriad of riches, from Standard Template Construct system schematics plundered from the Great Crusade's frontiers to removing the Enperor's prohibitions on research. Most of all, Regulus gave Kelbor-Hal the keys to the locked Vaults of Moravec, which were buried beneath the Fabricator-General's own Olympus Mons forge-fane.

There's also a series of "historical" events that I think are very relevant, and I'll list them down:

Ipluvien Maximal, lord of the Ulysses Patera and its industries, allies with the Knights of House Taranis. Readers of Graham McNeill's Mechanicum will remember this incident from his novel, where Raf Maven, Leopold Cronus and Preceptor Stator encountered the Kaban Machine while exterminating feral servitors attacking the Patera.

Also from the novel, Mechanicum, tensions between Legio Mortis and Legio Tempestus rise as the former breaches the Tempest Line, the border between their two domains. Principal to this is Princeps Penultima Camulos, who commands Legio Mortis on Mars and is loyal to Kelbor-Hal, and his Tempestus counterpart, Grand Master Indias Cavalerio - the Storm Lord. As much as I'm familiar with these events from Mechanicum, seeing them recounted in The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is delightful and a wonderful treat. Like, "Hey! I actually read this! I was there when Legio Tempestus almost came to blows with Legio Mortis, and when Maven and the Knights of House Taranis fought the Kaban Machine for the first time! I was there!"

Right after Magister-Lictanex Regulus, Mechanicum emissary to the Warmaster, visits Kelbor-Hal and passes him the proscribed engrams from Horus to open the Vaults of Moravec, a virulent plague of scrap-code invades the data networks of Mars, plunging the Red Planet into chaos. Kelbor-Hal, unaffected by the scrap code, mobilizes his forces and allies for war, invading forge fanes and rival Mechanicum lords whose defenses have been rendered vulnerable by the scrap code.

Legio Magna destroys Magos Mattias Kefra's forge, Forge Kefra, which supplies the Saturnyne Rams Solar Auxilia garrisons with munitions.

A host of altered Skitarii and Dark Mechanicum war machines assail Ipluvien Maximal's crater forges. The Loyalists successfully repel the first wave, but Ulysses Patera is encircled and besieged.

Legio Ignatum is baited by Legio Pyria to a trap, and while the Loyalists destroy the Traitors, with their ammunition expended and reactors hot, they are ambushed by Legio Mortis, Legio Damnosus and Legio Tenarii, and eradicated.

A million Taghma soldiers and Dark Mechanicum constructs clash within the Herschel impact basin that houses promethium refuelling stations, for no reason.

Contact is lost with Skitarii Pilgrym ranger patrols on the outskirts of the Magma City and across the Tharsis Quadrangle, the last communications warning of stalkers.

Tech-thralls and Myrmidons of Magos Chevain, a follower of Kelbor-Hal, launch a subterranean assault on the Eridania Archive, and destroy everything, from archivists to the precious data and knowledge stored within it.

The Imperial Fists send Sigismund, Camba Diaz and a bunch of companies to reinforce the Loyalists and secure the forge-complexes that supply Legion arms and equipment, one owned by Fabricator-Locum Kane, and the other at Lukas Chrom's, only for the Imperial Fists to be repelled by traitor Taghmata and corrupted automata.

Legio Mortis sieges Magma City, clashing against the last Loyalists of Legio Tempestus and gradually overwhelming them. Rather than see her city fall to the Dark Mechanicum, High-Adept Koriel Zeth floods Magma City in lava, drowning both Traitor and Loyalist alike, even as the last warriors of Legio Tempestus and House Taranis upon Mars martyr themselves.

As survivors of the Dark Mechanicum that besieged Magma City gather after its destruction, Archmagos Las Taol betrays Kelbor-Hal's High Taghmata Excubitii, ordering her Taghmata troops to butcher them. Apparently, it's part of her goal to gain Kelbor-Hal's favor as she fabricates her reports and root out enclaves of Loyalist Mechanicum across Mars and improves her reputation.

Kelbor-Hal and his allies have conquered much of Mars, encircling or forcing Loyalist resistance into hiding, and the Imperial Fists withdraw, evacuating Zagreus Kane and other senior Loyalist Mechanicum figures, along with materiel. Battlefleet Solar blockades Mars.

Three months after the atomic annihilation of Ipluvien Maximal's forge-fanes, the surviving auxiliaries of the Saturnyne Rams - left behind from The Martian Civil War (so the writers are assuming you've read that book too, or this account wouldn't make sense) - sabotage the titan assembly yards at Olympica Fossae. While they destroy or disable multiple engines, one of the Titans wake up and goes berserk, wiping out the Saturnyne Rams and also destroying Dark Mechanicum constructs and severely damaging the titan yards' infrastructure.

Back to the "main story" - the tale of Magma City. So Kelbor-Hal opens the Valts of Moravec, which contained warp-tainted technology. But the opening of the Vaults also unleashed a scrap-code that leaked from within and infected Mars's network. Kelbor-Hal himself formed alliances and secretly planned attacks against the tech-priests who he knows will refuse to join him.

In the Pallidus Wastes, along the forges of the Tharsis Quadrangle, Lukas Chrom's creations run amok. The Kaban Machine attacks, as mentioned earlier, encountered by a trio of House Taranis Knights, and blew everything up execpt the Knights, but this incident would only escalate tensions between the archmagi. Honor duels between House Morbidia and House Zavora turn out to be fatal.

The scrap-code sabotaged infrastructure and ends up leading to lots of deaths as reactors go into meltdown, or environmental controls malfunction. Fortunately, military systems were more heavily shielded and were spared, but the millions of deaths across Mars became known as the Death of Innocence.

The scrap-code apparently has a tainting or warping effect, turning them into...uh, darker things. Hence "Dark" Mechanicum.

Fortunately, the forge-fanes of Koriel Zeth, Zagreus Kane and Ipluvien Maximal stood strong, resilient against the scrap-code because of High Adept Macrotek's cornerstone noospheric technologies. The three of them ally, along with the Knights of Taranis and titans of Legio Tempestus, to defy the invasion they know is coming from Kelbor-Hal, who despite sending a diplomat - Acrhimandrite-Orator Melgator - to recruit Zeth, is strongly rebuffed by her.

There's also a mention of Zeth's Akashic Reader project from the novel, Mechanicum, though I doubt it has much of an impact on the main narrative. You'll want to read Graham McNeill's novel for more details regarding that (and the Void Dragon).

Unable to persuade Zeth, the Dark Mechanicum resorts to forces, with Taghmata Melgator and corrupted tech-thralls, Skitarii and Myrmidon bands marching toward the Magma City, only to back off when they see the Knights of House Taranis standing at the gate. Hah! Also, I believe this was also in the novel.

Legio Mortis then sieges Magma City, first taking out the Krios and Triaros tanks that formed the pickets of Taghmata Zeth, the armored tanks racing back to warn the Mistress of Magma City of the impending invasion.

Skitarii from Gigas Sulci freight yards at Olympus Mons ride mag-lev carriages toward Magma City, only to be obliterated by Ordinatus engines' fire, and sealing that route.

Princeps Penultima Camulos amassed much of Mortis's strength to crush Magma City, but he also intends to attack the Stormlords' home at Ascraeus Mons to destroy Legio Tempestus afterward. But he was ordered by Horus and Kelbor-Hal to assault Magma City first, which is why he's so impatient. Escorted by House Morbidia Knights and cybernetic cohorts, the Legio auxiliaries and Secutarii are torn apart by the defenses, which can't do much against the god-engines, unfortunately. Also, you will remember this, but Camulos pilots the Aquila Ignis, the Imperator Titan. Additional stuff: a single Apocalypse pattern Titan and a pair of Warmaster heavy battle Titans are left behind to guard Pavonis Mons, the home of Legio Mortis, just in case Legio Tempestus counterattacks.

However, House Morbidia is ambushed by Krios tanks from Taghmata Zeth, and many Knights are lost, while automata are pinned by tech-thralls and taken out by Myrmidon Destructors. Morbidia Armigers are pounced upon by Ursarax cohorts and destroyed by Thantar salvos. Even as the Mortis Auxilia died, they fought back and reaped a toll upon the Loyalist forces. However, the automata are annihilated while House Morbidia sustained 50% casualties, sometimes because the Traitor Knights are entangled with brainless automata sticking to their last programs after their datasmiths, magi dominus and supporting Tech-priests were killed.

Legio Mortis is not intimidated, and hunts among the city, only to ambushed by traps such as cranes, explosives, and more. The traps only slow them down, and they march into the city, with one Warhound falling to the combined volleys from Krios Venators from Taghmata Zeth, but the surviving Titans remain unstoppable.

However, that was not the last line of defense. Just as they triumphantly advance, Legio Mortis is ambushed by Ordinatus engines, incapacitated and immobilized, and then they are charged by waiting Knights of House Taranis. Even as vassal Knights of Morbidia threw themselves at the Knights of House Taranis, the latter successfully took down several Titans. YAY!

While the Knights clash, the Titans of Legio Mortis focus fire on the Ordinatus engines and wipe them out. Oh, well. Also, we lost fifty Knights of House Taranis. Ouch. Victorious, the Demi-Legio now stood on the doorstep of Koriel Zeth's true domain, even as surviving complement of House Morbidia Knights, the rest of the Titans' auxiliary hosts - Cybernetica, Secutarii and Autokratorii - swept the city in their wake, obliterating the pockets of resistance.

Aquila Ignis breached the Redoubts, burning through the void shields, and Legio Mortis is through.

However, the greatest weapon in Magma City's defense is yet to be unleashed. As Legio Mortis marches into Magma City, they are struck by Legio Tempestus and laid low. While the two Titan Legions clash, other forces attack elsewhere, including Archmagos Las Taol's Taghmata, and Archimandrite-Orator Melgator, whose Taghma hosts backed off when they saw the Knights of House Taranis - most of whom are now engaged with the Titans of Legio Mortis.

This is where the first confirmed sightings of stalkers are seen - barbed arachnid constructs possessing insidious intelligence and bred from the forbidden knowledge obtained from the Vaults of Moravec. They attack alongside tech-thralls, but Taghmata Zeth tries to stem the tide as best as they can. Fortunately, before Taghmata Zeth is overrun, part of Archmagos Las Taol's force divides and runs off to face the waiting Legio Cybernetica some distance away. The Macro-cohort Exsomnis is a war host of the Legio Cybernetica, and they are accompanied by fifty Knights of House Taranis and three Ordinatus engines - the ones that shot down the mag-lev carriages carrying Kelbor-Hal's Skitarii horde. The stalkers skitter forward to engage Cybernetica automata and Knights in combat, succeed in destroying the three Ordinatus engines, but Archmagos Dominus Quamar Arrkest's forces prevail eventually, annihilating the Dark Mechanicum contingent and stalker constructs.

Unfortunately, when depleted and exhausted, the triumphant Cybernetica macro-cohort and Knights of House Taranis are attacked by fresh forces from Taghmata Taol. As an aside, Macro-cohort Exsomnis is actually neutral and isn't going to participate in the conflict, and they were stranded in the Arsia Mons spaceport when the Ring of Iron was pretty much destroyed. But when Archmagos Quamar Arrkest recognized the malevolent scrap-code coming from Kelbor-Hal's forces, he realizes that the Fabricator-General had betrayed the Mechanicum, and so he chooses to help Zeth defend Magma City.

Back at Magma City, with the beleaguered Taghmata Zeth on the verge of annihilation, eleven Knights of House Taranis show up, led by their two Lord Commanders Taymon Verticoda and Caturix, and begin to drive back both stalkers and Dark Taghmata forces.

Even as the Legios' auxiliary hosts fought at the Titans' feet, with Cybernetica, Autokratorii and Secutarii duelling, the Knights of House Taranis and Titans of Legio Tempestus achieved small victories here and there, ambushing Legio Mortis Titans and felling a lot of them. And I mean a lot. The Knights of House Taranis combine their firepower with Legio Tempestus, as well as defend them from melee attacks from any Legio Mortis Titan that comes close. Pretty awesome.

Despite the small victories and reaping a fearsome tally on the enemy's ranks, Legio Mortis inexorably advanced upon Koriel Zeth's domain, with the Imperator Aquila Ignis unstoppable and indestructible. Even Grand Master Cavalerio is aware that once Aquila Ignis enters the breach, Legio Tempestus is doomed. And it's only a matter of time before Magma City falls.

As if to confirm High Adept Zeth's assessment, the Ulysses Fossae was annihilated in nuclear fire as the fusion reactor chain detonates. Ipluvien Maximal's forge-fane is erased from existence in a moment, and Koriel Zeth mourns her friend before vowing that she will follow him to the grave in defiance of the Dark Mechanicum.

Camulos, in his hubris, decides to toy with Cavalerio's Warlord Titan instead of destroying Legio Tempestus outright, and Legio Mortis pays for their arrogance as more Titans are destroyed. The Titans of Legio Tempestus defiantly detonate their reactors to ensure mutual destruction, and most of Legio Mortis Titans limp away. Cavalerio's last stand made Legio Mortis pay dearly for their treachery, though he and the final Loyalist Elements of Legio Tempestus eventually succumbed to Aquila Ignis and its overwhelming firepower.

Meanwhile, the eleven Knights of House Taranis have been halved as they defend the Typhon Causeway from Taghmata Melgator and Dark Mechanicum stalker constructs. The remaining Knights sacrifice themselves so that their Lord Commanders - Verticoda and Caturix - can make it to Melgator's position and kill him. Hah! Though they all fall - including the Lord Commanders - House Taranis deprived Melgator of victory.

Koriel Zeth, with her defenders overrun or fallen - Legio Tempestus and House Taranis, especially - drowns her Magma City in lava. Archmagos Las Taol and a few of her automata escape, though at great loss, and despite her failure to stop Zeth from blowing her own city up. Both Mortis and Tempestus Auxilia battle-automata are destroyed, and even the Titans of Legio Mortis fall victim to the lava. Dark Mechanicum Autokratorii attempt to flee, but are blocked by remnants of Taghmata Zeth, who ensure mutual annihilation.

Even Aquila Ignis is destroyed, with its giant hellstorm cannon the only thing that survived the battle, and repurposed and seen again in the Dawn of War games. Taghmata Melgator was consumed by the lava, while the remnants of Taghmata Taol retreat. This left the survivors of Macro-cohort Exsomnis and House Taranis to pull out from an otherwise unwinnable battle, seeking new sanctuary elsewhere. Also, Las Taol's Domitar ended up killing much of the High Taghmata Excubitii, who are crushed in her wake as they attempt to follow her escape route created by the Domitar pummeling a way through with their graviton hammers. Whoops.

There's a footnote regarding Regulus stealing High-Adept Zeth's noosphereic research alongside Iron Hands' Clan Ayreas, which I mentioned above. Um, so Legio Tempestus and House Taranis are obliterated, their fortresses falling swiftly in turn - the Halls of Taranis within Arsia Chasmata collapsing, and Legio Tempestus's stronghold at Ascraeus Mons sacked by the wrathful Legio Mortis. The Tharsis Quadrangle is now fully under Kelbor-Hal's control. Ugh.

Hey, this makes him much better than cartoon villain Lukas Chrom.

Legio Mortis suffered greatly, having lost Demi-Legio Admonitus, and had to work hard to rebuild their numbers (which was sabotaged by the Saturnyne Rams and their Tech-Priest allies, as mentioned above). Kelbor-Hal couldn't care less, as he and his allies delve deeper into the Vaults of Moravec and unleash horrors from Old Night, and somehow distribute schematics for the stalkers to other Dark Mechanicum forces stationed on other forge worlds despite the Loyalist blockade surrounding Mars.

I think that's about all the lore I can summarize. I'll see if I can write an article for the Dark Mechanicum separately, but I hope you enjoyed the story. It's a great book, a real treat to read, and a lot mre fun than The Martian Civil War. I'm so pleased with the mention of Mechanicum Taghmata, Skitarii, Titans and Knights clashing, as opposed to simply Astartes fighting Dark Mechanicum and Daemon Engines in the previous book. House Taranis gets their time to shine and become a major player and participant in this war, along with both Legio Tempestus and Legio Mortis. Better than little mentions here and there. There's a wealth of lore, the focus is on the Mechanicum as opposed to the Legiones Astartes (I am sick of Astartes, ha ha). It's fresh, it's great, and it's a delight especially if you've already read Mechanicum by Graham McNeil. But even if you have already read it, there's a lot of new information, new theaters of war and other battles that aren't mentioned in the novel. Like the Macro-cohort Exsomnis, the Thallax and Ursarax tearing tech-thralls apart, the stalkers, etc. Oh, and the Ordinatus engines obliterating Kelbor-Hal's Skitarii. So cool!

As an addendum here, because the Kaban Machine is mentioned - it was destroyed at the end of Mechanicum, by Raf Maven and Leopold Cronus. Again, that ties into the Void Dragon and Noctis Labyrinth arc, which isn't mentioned here (it has something to do with the Akashic Reader in the novel). But yeah, the Kaban Machine is mentioned in The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum to rival a scout Titan in size and power, and it was destroyed by two Knights of House Taranis. Good job, Raf and Leopold.

What else...well, if there's anything else, let me know. I'll write it in a future post or reply to comments. Till then!

My Rise of the Dark Mechanicum came early!

I don't know how, but probably because I pre-ordered them, my Rise of the Dark Mechanicum and Mechanicum battle group came early! Yay! Woohoo!

Thank you very much, Games Workshop! This was the release I was looking forward to most of all! I'm so delighted!

As always, once I have finished reading the lore, I will share the details here on my blog. I'm sure this will be many times better than the Martian Civil War. I can't wait!

Completed Thanatar

I have finally finished assembling my Thanatar! Yay! Now my forge world, Draconia IV, has his own Thanatar!

This will be the start of a colossal Legio Cybernetica force, though most of it will be represented by Legions Imperialis scale. Since I don't have much personal space in my home in Singapore, and I don't want to drive my mom crazy. Ha ha

Anyway, we will see what the future holds for me. Castellax and the Mechanicum battle group for Legions Imperialis will be next. Then, perhaps Dark Mechanicum, a 28mm Triaros and an Onager Dunecrawler. The only stuff left will be more plastic automata if they ever get released. We shall see!

Archmagos Prime and half built Thanatar

I assembled my Archmagos Prime and partially built my Thanatar today.

I wanted to finish assembling my Thanatar Cavas Siege-automata, but I guess that's a bit too much. I spent almost 4 hours assembling the both of them. Let's just say Draconis IV has gone back to churning out automata, and this Thanatar is just the start.

I'm not sure how the Horus Heresy scene is in Singapore, so depending on what happens, I might just stick to a single Thanatar, add a couple of Castellax, maybe a Triaros (though they are more for my modern Skitarii than any Thallax or Adsecularis Tech-thralls, which I have no intention of getting), and that's about it. Until they release the Domitar, Vultarax, Arlatax and the other automata (Vorax), that is. But yeah, I'm sticking to pure Legio Cybernetica.

Instead, I'll focus on Legions Imperialis, assembling a Legio Cybernetica army to ally with my Loyalist Knights (or the other way around), and perhaps expand to a Dark Mechanicum force with the remaining units in the Mechanicum Battle Group. That will be fun. One day, I'll try throwing the Dark Mechanicum forces against my Loyalist Knights and Cybernetica automata, and write a story about it. We'll see. But that's a project for the far, far future. I'll need to get this guy done first, wait for the Mechanicum Battle Group, then get the Castellax, an Onager Dunecrawler and Triaros for 28mm scale, then the Dark Mechanicum stuff.

Needless to say, I estimate that will take me months, maybe a year. We'll see.

Stalkers Stalking the Imperium

With the introduction of Stalkers, the Imperium finds itself...uh, stalked by the monstrous creations of the Dark Mechanicum. Anyway, here's a few pictures from Warhammer Community!

Not gonna lie, they look rad as hell. These are the Serperos Overlord Heavy Stalkers. Uh, for some reason, I'm reminded of the Stalkers from Starcraft 2. It's just me, right?

Anyway...

Are those Ursarax in the background? Yeah, they are. They are the jump pack brethren of the Thallax. Actually, the Thallax have jump packs too, so they can jump shoot jump, but these guys apparently are faster. Uh, on the tabletop, not really. I think the main difference is that Thallax is a shooting unit, whereas Ursarax are close combat linebreakers, designed to get in close and tear things up in melee, as opposed to firing from afar with lightning guns and the like.

Then you have the Scintillax cyclops leaders with the Harpax Swarmer Scout Hosts.

And finally, we have a mention of the Knights of House Taranis and Loyalist Legio Tempestus defending Magma City from the Dark Mechanicum and Legio Mortis! This alone makes it more promising than The Martian Civil War, which was a letdown for me. I can't wait to get my hands on The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum and read it! I'll share the lore with you once I'm done reading it, as I did with the other books. Till then!

Ahriman: Undying

I've just recently finished Ahriman: Undying by John French, and as usual, I'll give spoilers for those who want to know what happen but don't intend to read the book anytime soon (or at all). Obviously, spoiler warning, so if you don't want to read them (why are you here then?), please skip this article.

In the last part where we left off in Ahriman: Eternal, the Pyrodomon is in ascension and is turning all the Sorcerers in the Thousand Sons Legion into ash. Ignis has already fallen, and poor Ctesias is next. Ugh. That's just the foreshadowing, though, and it turns out it was one of the multiple timelines that Ahriman experienced when using the Key of Infinity to rewind time and redo things again and again.

While Ahriman is using the Key of Infinity, he's being pursued by the Necron Lord Setekh, and his Hyksos Dynasty. Unfortunately, Setekh is also stuck in the same loop, caught within the Key of Infinity before Ahriman rewinds time, though his presence is also causing Ahriman's plans to sort of unravel.

There's also the ubiquitous Harlequins doing the dance and revealing bits of prophecy from some book in the Black Library that's supposed to foretell all the events. Also, speaking of Harlequins, it appears that in most timelines, Ahriman's fleet of Exiles happens upon the Aeldari being attacked by the Hyksos Dynasty when they arrived to find the Key of Infinity, which is in some pocket dimension in some space somewhere.

Meanwhile, Gilgamos and Gaumata, the latter who was resurrected in the previous book by the Pyrodomon, are planning a coup because they think Ahriman has failed them and is directionless. They believe change is the only way forward for the Thousand Sons (Exiles?), and plan to usurp him. They are also influenced by the cult of the Pyrodomon (who saved Gaumata), created the cult, and basically turned half the Exiles' fleet, including thralls and other Sorcerers, to the service of the Pyrodomon.

Of course, this ends in betrayal when the Pyrodomon, in the form of Helio Isidorus, turns both Gilgamos and Gaumata into ash. Ah, the price of treachery, indeed.

While Gilgamos and Gaumata lead the coup and sort of paralyzed the fleet, the Necrons of the Hyksos Dynasty attack them. It is foreshadowed frequently that the Hyksos Dynasty have fallen to the Flayer virus, and are all Flayed Ones. Setekh and his Dynasty have been pretty much driven to insanity, and I think it's hinted that Ahriman might maybe have introduced the Flayer virus somehow, or led to it.

Lycomedes is Ctesias's disciple, formerly being under Gaumata, but is encouraged to go under Ctesias's tutelage by Ahriman to promote "bonds" between the Exiles.

Uh, there's also this complex memory and mindscape section where Ahriman basically "conceals" his existence from the Pyrodomon - who can detect every single Thousand Son across the galaxy - by wiping his memories and becoming a "different" person altogether. This is where his Horkos persona comes in, and he essentially flees the Pyrodomon. Unfortunately, because he has some Necron device on him that Setekh had implanted with a tracking beacon, he can't escape the Necrons, and Setekh and his Royal Court pursue him all the way to the end, until they find the Key of Infinity.

Speaking of which, there's a daemon named the Bitter Kin who was sent to assassinate Ahriman...by Ahriman himself, a future version, who has all sorts of intricate schemes. Probably to wall off his memories in order to hide from the Pyrodomon (don't ask, I don't really understand either). The Bitter Kin was able to make it as far as Ahriman's mindscape, but just as the Arch-Sorcerer planned, Ctesias arrives to save him.

Meanwhile, the Pyrodomon, distracted by the Necrons attack and unable to find Ahriman, turns his attention on the assailants and essentially brings both fleets into the warp, massacring the Necrons while preserving most of the Exiles' fleet. Cool.

Setekh has Ahriman at his mercy right before they find the Key of Infinity, only for Ahriman to essentially lift the blinkers from his eyes and reveal the Flayer virus and insanity that infected his Dynasty, so Setekh finds himself assailed by his own mad warriors and crypteks and other guys. He fights them off and continues to pursue Ahriman, only to find himself trapped in the Key of Infinity, where Ahriman explains that he has full control of it.

"You may have created it, but I learned how to wield it by using it, rewinding time and experiencing near infinite timelines over and over again." Or something like that.

Basically, everything in this book is "Just as planned!" TM, but Ahriman.

Ahriman then leaves Setekh to his slow disintegration while he finally redoes time for the final...uh, time. This time, he goes back to the War on the Planet of the Sorcerers, where he cast the second Rubric. You know, back in Ahriman: Unchanged, and undoes everything. He essentially writes Helio Isidorus out of existence, so that the Pyrodomon never happened.

So basically everything after Ahriman: Unchanged has been reset, and Helio Isidorus never existed. No Pyrodomon, and everyone sees the Second Rubric as a failure, unlike in the original where at least one Rubric Marine was returned to normal. They note this weird Rubric Marine who used to be Helio Isidorus, but in the current timeline, no one remembers who he is and can't identify him, and Ahriman just locks him up, isolating him from the others.

Instead, he moves on from the failure of the second Rubric and targets a new place where he might undo the Rubric - the Black Library. Thanks to the machinations of the Harlequins to prevent a tragedy that would befall the galaxy if Setekh and the Necrons, or the Pyrodomon, were unleashed (they basically made use of Ahriman to eliminate both Setekh, the Hyskos Dynasty and the Pyrodomon, because if they didn't, the galaxy would be in a much worse state than now), Ahriman has learned of the Black Library, and within it, he sees the possibility for a cure for the Rubric. Setting his sights on the Black Library, he orders his Fleet of Exiles toward the webway.

Also, Ahriman's flagship is the Hekaton. Not sure why it's not in the Lexicanum or the wiki. Hey, someone update those pages, yeah?