The Traitor Legions flee Terra in disarray, hounded by the remaining Loyalists, both sides hungry for every scrap of vengeance they can extract. This is a time of change; humanity has witnessed the dream of the Emperor's Great Crusade unravel, and from their perspective, it's all the fault of the Legions.

The Traitor Warmaster is dead. Terra lies in ruins. The Emperor is silent. Amid the rubble of the Palace, shell-shocked survivors emerge into the light of an uncertain dawn. New powers are present now, ones that have travelled the length of the galaxy to bring salvation to the Imperium, though they are as readily cast as usurpers as redeemers. The survivors of Horus' Grand Armada, now scattered and desperate to escape vengeance, are riven with doubt and dissension, and their gods too are silent. Amid all the grief and confusion, some hopeful souls believe the war to be over and an era of renewal just ahead. But wiser heads know that this war can never end, and that the only question remaining is who shall rise to power within the perilous new age, and who shall fall.