These are spoilers..... please don't read below if you get offended by that kind of thing, and stay out of the comments were discussion is taking place. Otherwise if you dare.... head on down and be wary that the Inquisition may need to have your purged.
BTW some of this is only in the Collectors Edition
via redits. Someone decided to share what is going on.
Lore of Psychic Awakening 2 Faith and Fury
-The Great Rift is causing shenanigans on the galactic scale. While the Primarch's crusade is holding back the tides of darkness, it's not enough for many parts of the Imperium especially the north. No part of the Imperium was left scarred. Not even the worlds of the Segmentum Solar
-The Word Bearers plan is to exploit the mayhem to conduct system wide rituals of corruption and terror. Through these rituals they spread the power of Chaos further into the Imperium causing the Imperial populace to fall into hopelessness and fear. This will break the will of the Imperial populations and only those who embrace Chaos will be spared for they will empower the spread to reach further into the heart of the Imperium
-All Imperial factions were blind to this threat except for the Sisters of Battle. Forewarned by visions and dreams, they knew the nature of the threat but due to the collapse of Imperial communication they had to warn the scattered Imperial forces in person. So the battlefleets of the Sisters of Battle sail the galaxy in more numbers than ever before.
-The Word Bearers' plot is coming close to fruition but there is something they did not foresee. The same energies emerging from the Great Rift that's empowering their rituals have given rise to a conflagration of acts of faith and miracles which resulted in the steeling of hearts of all Imperials that bore witness to them. The Emperor Angelic, flocks of golden eagles, pillars of purging flame, and many more manifestations appeared to aid the Imperials. And so a great war of faith began between heretics and loyalist. One side wielding the dankness of the Warp while the other wields its light. Basically get ready for Endless Spells 40K edition. Get hype!
-The Talledus system is a wealthy and significant region of space for the faithful masses of the Imperium (the book features the history of the system, I won't go in it). Because of its location and the fact that it represents everything that Kor Phaeron hates, it was targeted for destruction. If shrine world Benediction which forms the heart of the system falls, then it would spread terror and fear as well as the call of Chaos into Segmentum Solar. Then world after world will succumb.
-Before the Great Rift. Due to the religious oppression of minority sub-cults of the Imperial Creed, the Word Bearers had plenty of opportunities to exploit the resentment and rage of these downtrodden religious minorities and turn them to Chaos. sub-cults of the Imperial Creed turned into full blown cults of Chaos. Their job now as to pave the way for the coming of Chaos to the system and spread beyond to prepare further worlds for the gift of Chaos
-Then the Great Rift happened and news of the Primarch's return inflamed Kor Phaeron because he hated the guy for ripping his heart out at some point in the past. Kor Phaeron immediately ordered the attack. The Night Lords joined in lured by Kor Phaeron by the promise of fun and loot. So did the Iron Warriors but they didn't give a damn about anything but testing their daemon engines on fresh and well defended worlds. Chaos came hard and fast, an armada of traitors and daemons washed over the system's worlds
-While the Word Bearers busied themselves in the process of corrupting and defiling the shrine world of Benediction, Kor Phaeron counted on Night Lords and Iron Warriors to delay Imperial reinforcements. The Night Lords used the thousands of tortured astropaths aboard their battleship to send a psychic scream that disturbed vox communications and ravaged the minds of Imperial navigators resulting in Imperial reinforcements ships popping out of the Warp right into the killing grounds of the Night Lords. The Iron Warriors in the outer worlds of the system outdone themselves. They perfected a new form of daemon factory. Soul Harvesters. Titanic Space borne Daemon factories that can deploy Iron Warrior forces and then plant itself into the crust of the planet before feeding on the souls, flesh, and metal of the world in order to spew daemonic engines endlessly.
-As things grew dire and the walls of reality thinned by the slaughter and dark rituals, thousands of Battle sisters, saints, pilgrims gathered into a single collective player. The combined power of their faith created a beacon of light viable even far away in space.
-Salamanders do what they do best. They position themselves to be the focus of the traitor's attacks to minimize civilian causalities
-Kor Phaeron's pulls a neat trick. By spilling the blood of flayed priests into the river, the river started boiling and turning crimson. hideous shapes appeared in the water, wielding brazen blades and howling in savage delight. Then the river surged forward to smash into the psy-shield of the great cathedral. Hundreds of sisters and guard and even their tanks were melted into a slurry by the intense heat of the crimson gore river. But wait, It gets worse. The walls of reality ripped open completely allowing Greater Daemons to join in the fun. The daemon tide spilled into the cathedral and the sisters were forced to fight desperate room to room last stand battles against them.
-With the way towards the heart of the cathedral opened, the battle was good as decided....no wait! The valor of the Sisters entered the heart of the masses they are protecting. They started to pray and defy the daemons and heretics. At first this faithful resistance by the weak made the heretics and daemons laugh but then something happened. Out from the tombs of martyred saints, manifestations in the shape of golden faced spirits appeared and flew high to form a shield of light around the cathedral. Daemons and heretics that tried to force their way through the shield were burned to ash. The golden spirits did more than protect the cathedral. they mended the walls of reality. Kor Phaerons raged as great swathes of the daemons that he just summoned were banished back to the Warp. Word Bearer momentum stalled but they had no desire to retreat. Out of the Warp, dark communications summoned fresh and new reinforcements to the system. This is Cliffhanger one.
-The camera pans out to what the Iron Warriors are doing. All the way on the heavily defended world of Ghreddask, the Iron Warriors drew the Imperial reinforcements there. The Iron Warriors opened the war by sending their massive soul Harvester to latch its immense tentacles on the planet like some kind of parasite (Google the Big Gete Star for a reference). The Soul Harvester drank the aura of carnage and death. Sucking in the souls on the dying as well as the corpses and metals on the planet to spew an endless tide of daemonic metal death. As long as the Soul Harvester remained functioning, then the Imperials are doomed. So a strike force of Black Templar boarded the Soul Harvester, fought their way towards the daemonforge that serves as its heart and then suicide-exploded a cyclonic charge there. This did damage to the Soul Harvester and it thrashed in pain BUT it was not enough. The daemon furnaces of the Soul Harvester are not so easily destroyed. The sacrifice of the Black Templar however bought precious time for the defenders of the planet. The fighting continues on. Cliffhanger 2!
-The coming of the Great Rift is the beginning of a golden age for the Night Lords. In the past they struggled to get by with piracy and raids. Now as darkness descends on the galaxy, they are presented with a staggering feast. Whole munitorum worlds are stripped back, several fortress monasteries stores of geneseed and armories were emptied, and countless millions are being enslaved and tortured at the Night Lords leisure. Worse still for the Imperium, the Night Lords are using the tortured Astropaths trick to lure and misdirect Imperial ships into their clutches. Imperial shipping and supply lines are not safe!
-Moving the camera to the Night Lords, we see they are enjoying misdirecting the Imperial reinforcements into an asteroid field called the Tears of the Emperor and then slaughtering them. The much needed reinforcements are not reaching into the system so the White Scars investigate and pick up on what the Night Lords are doing. So a battle of ruses, speed, and stealth is waged in the Tears of the Emperor. The battle goes back and forth between the two forces but the White Scars are unable to locate the Night Lords battleship broadcasting the Astropath signal. The White Scars must do so or the war in the Tears will drag on to the detriment of the Imperials in the wider war in the system. Cliffhanger 3.
This lore below is only available in the collector edition of the book :
-Camera moves again and we are suddenly met with the Alpha Legion in a random part of the galaxy. They are orchestrating the fall of an agriworld. In a matter of hours, the Imperial presence on the planet and within its orbit are devastated by sleeper cells that the Alpha Legions seeded decades ago. The planet is theirs and they begin a massive Chaos ritual of mass sacrifice. Everything is going as planned...except they Alpha Legion couldn't predict the insane calculus of the Iron Hands who through information gathering and logic discovered what the Alpha Legion were intending to do. With no way of warning the Imperials in the sector about the impending doom that's soon going to fall on them all, the Iron Hands sent a force strike force led by an Iron chaplain, one of their finest war leaders. On the way, the Iron Hands are met with a battle sister fleet who also identified the threat on the agriworld but not through math but through a vision.
- Upon landing on the planet, the Sisters of Battle and Iron Hands faced the Alpha Legion cultists. The cultists fought surprisingly well but they could not stop the relentless march of the loyalists. By the time the loyalists reached the main area of the ritual, it was already too late. The Ritual was cast.
-The ritual's outcome wasn't an explosion or a yawning rift. The Alpha Legion went with the subtler route. Psychic energies washed over the planet. The people of the agriworld all were affected by the energies, turning into psykers. 1/3 of the populace died, torn apart by their newfound psychic powers that they could not contain. The 2/3 of the planet's population survived and became psykers one and all.
-Even the Iron Hands were affected by the psychic energies, sending several of them staggering as the psychic signal filled their minds with screams. The sisters of battle on the other hand were immune to the psychic awakening signal. Their minds being too small for doubt (and anything else really) and filled already with faith. The signal could not find any purchase into their minds.
-After a brief skirmish, the Alpha Legion retreated and began an operation of stoking the psychic anguish of the planet with rituals and slaughter. The walls of reality cracked open and the daemons of Chaos poured out. The daemons rushed to consume the psychic populace and these poor unfortunates fled to the Imperial lines. The Iron Hands were prepared to fire indiscriminately on both daemon and civilian. The civilians were channeling the energies of the Warp that are sustaining the daemons' presence, so they had to die. The Sisters of Battle would not allow this so they walked into the sight lights of the Iron Hands and blocked them from firing at the people of the planet, much to the logical chagrin of the Iron Chaplain
-The Alpha Legion took the chance given to them by their daemonic allies to close the noose around the necks of the Imperials. Surrounded by traitor and daemon from all sides, the Iron Hands and Sisters were doomed. But then something miraculous happened. Who would have guessed!?
-The conviction of the Iron Hands and the faith of the Sisters birthed a manifestation of the Emperor. A towering figure with a flaming sword appeared, surrounded by golden eagles. The Emperor Angelic has come!
-The Emperor Angelic swept his sword forward and the eagles came at the daemons burning any they touched with golden fire. The holy energies unleashed haloed the people of the planet turning them into instruments of the Emperor's will. As one the people of the agriworld rose up and walked into the firelines and blades of the daemons. With mere gestures, they sent holy fire and spears of light at the heretics and daemons.
-The Iron Chaplain was speechless at what was happening. This didn't fit any of his logical understanding. Inside his cold soul a long buried emotion sparked and that unnerved him.
-As for the Alpha Legion, their sorcerer leader never saw this kind of psychic manifestation before and was shocked at how his forces were crumbling before it. But he realized that it's ultimately unsustainable. The psychic ritual he started is already straining the fabric of reality. The gathering psychic energies will see the planet to its doom. The Alpha Legion fled the planet with their mission done.
-The holy psykers were named the "Humble Saints" and after the defeat of the Chaos forces on the planets and thousands of the Imperial faith came to witness them. But something had to be done about them. The swell of so much psychic energy did not only threaten the agriworld but nearby worlds as well. The Psychic awakening happening there cannot be allowed to spread.
-The Iron Chaplain argued with that the planet needs to be destroyed for the greater good of the rest of the Imperium but the Sisters of Battle protested. The Emperor Angelic protected the people of the planet and poured his holiness into them. They must be protected at all cost.
-The Iron chaplain could not move the sisters via logic nor any calculations so he decided to get allies better equipped to argue his point. In secrecy the Chaplain contacted the Inquisition which responded in absolute force.
-A fleet of Black Ships swirled around the planet. Imperial stromtroopers descended in droves to help the Iron Hands in herding the population to be processed. Then came in the Sisters of Silence who began to grab portions of the holy psykers for their blackships. Those who would be destined to feed the hunger of the Emperor or sing in his Choir. Others might be turned into sanctioned psykers if they survived the tortures of their captors.
-The whole thing angered the sisters but nothing could be done. This was the order of things when it came to pyskers. Despite the fact these brave souls channel the holy will of the Emperor, they were treated like cattle by the Imperium.
-Then the black warships of the Inquisition began appear in the skies of the world. Their positioning in the orbit of the planet made it clear what was coming next.
-The Battles Sisters contacted the faithful transporters and pilgrims in the system to come evacuate the holy psykers out of the world and send them to the safety of the shrine world of Crenna. A fleet of civilian transports descended on the planet to evac much as possible the holy psychic populace of the planet. The Inquisitorial warfleet could do nothing to stop this, fearing to fire on the relief fleet and cause a civil war with the Imperial Church. Hopeful, yes? But then disaster struck!
-One of the relief ships managed to carry with it 4000 holy psykers guarded by a force of sisters. While it was flying away from the planet, the psykers lost control of their holy powers and the ship burst with golden flames. The ship reactor was breached resulting in a nuclear explosion that everyone saw.
-The Iron Hands intervened and blocked the path of the relief fleet. They threatened that they would destroy every single evacuation ship if the Sisters of Battle don't agree to parley.
-The Sisters agreed and their leader met the Iron Chaplain and members of the inquisition to discuss the fate of the planet. The Sisters of Battle were shown what was happening on the planet. Thousands of holy psykers were losing control of their powers and the psychic conflagration could be seen from space. The fires were spreading from the population centers. The Iron Chaplain spoke bluntly to the Sisters of Battle but without any resentment/malice. The Sisters did well and fought hard. They saved a part of the planet's population but the planet itself and the unfortunate souls on it are doomed. The world needed to be destroyed lest the swelling of psychic energy threaten the whole sector, spreading the madness further beyond.
-Despite the sorrow caused by the decision, the Sisters submitted to the judgement of the Holy Ordos. The command came instantly. The Cyclonic torpedoes went flying into the planet. And so the world of saints was destroyed by those who came to protect it.
That's all folks. Three stalemates and a grimdark ending that can be counted as a victory for Chaos. Lets proceed to the plothooks in the end of the narrative part of the book. I will mention the most interesting ones :
-The Orks are massing in parts of the galaxy and it looks like the Orks psychic energy is welling and growing in the Warp, Drums of war can be heard in communications and in minds. Astropaths that get touched by it have their heads exploded. They are growing louder and louder. Signal the time of the ORK!
-Fulgrim is active and is on the move. The Emperor's Children are on the march. Codex : Slaanesh all but confirmed. Get hype 666!
-The Prospero System is a buzz with activity. Something wicked is going come out of it by the reckoning of the observing Grey Knights.
This is the plot of the next PA book. If you are interested the "Ashes of Prospero" and "Mephiston : City of Light" books shed light on what is Magnus planning. Though, I am puzzled why GW chose the Dark Angels to be the enemy of the Thousand Sons in this event. Made more sense if it was the Blood Angels or Space Wolves but whatever.
-A scene featuring the fall of a Black Ship, Not even the anti-psychic wards and the Sisters of Silence of that ship can contain the psychic fury. The Sisters of Silence suicide-blew up the ship.
If it's getting harder to bring the Emperor his food and supply the Choir with singers, then what would happen to the Imperium? How dire indeed.
-A scene features a heavily wounded guardsman limping towards a swarm of Tyranids. With serene look in his eyes, he raises his one good arm at the Tyranids. Then there was LIGHT. The Tyranids fell down dead, smoke rising from their corpses. What few Tyranid beasts that survived were recoiling and wreathing as if they were being burned by an invisible fire. The Guardsmen regiment as one charged the suffering Tyranids and ended their misery by mass bayonetting.
