The Fall of Hypnoth
Imotekh's campaigns are halted briefly by the Imperium's resolute defence of forge world Hypnoth. Astra Militarum and Space Marine reinforcements flood into the battle zone, and though they cannot achieve a lasting victory, they succeed in tying down the Necron assault for several months. Encouraged by the prophecies of the astromancer Orikan the Diviner, Imotekh finally breaks the stalemate by launching a series of attacks on Hypnoth's supply worlds, Praedis-Zeta and Nyx. The first two raids perform entirely as expected, with the planets laid waste and their vital supplies claimed by the Sautekh forces. However, an unforeseen Tyranid infestation on Nyx wreaks havoc amongst the Necron forces and threatens to derail Imotekh's entire campaign. The Stormlord weaves a strategy that manipulates the Tyranid swarm into attacking the remaining Imperial defenders, allowing Imotekh to extricate his remaining forces and continue on his campaign. Meanwhile, Sautekh Crypteks succeed in introducing a mechanophage into the defence systems of Hypnoth, reducing its formidably armed bastions to helpless ferrocrete shells. Despite a valorous defence by Space Marines of the Flesh Tearers and Iron Hands Chapters, Hypnoth is conquered.
Imotekh's armies not only burn away the surfaces of two planets, but also manage to control and redirect the movement of a Tyranid Swarm, and utilize "mechanophages" to reduce the planetary defense systems of a world into useless shells.
The Twisted Catacombs
In retaliation for the attack upon the Threefold Engels, the Ordo Xenos dispatches a Deathwatch Kill Team to destroy Moebius, the crownworld of the Nekthyst Dynasty. So tangled is the maze of hyperspace corridors that make up this shadowed world, the Deathwatch battle-brothers are soon divided and hopelessly lost. Only one brother escapes alive, a Space Wolf by the name of Ranulf Longstriker, but he has been rendered hopelessly insane by his experiences.
A Necron world turns out to actually be a tangled maze of hyperspace corridors.
Broken Faith
Anrakyr the Traveller attacks the Imperial shrine world of Saintspyre. So stout are this world's defences and so easily has it seen off previous invaders that it is believed throughout the system that the Emperor himself protects it. The Traveller will prove this claim false. Anrakyr's Crypteks have confirmed that the tomb complex at the shrine world's heart is cold and dead, plundered many centuries ago by the ignorant human settlers. Accordingly, the Traveller is here to exact a terrible revenge. Using his tomb ships as a shield to ward off the planet's fleet, Anrakyr fights his way through to the greatest of Saintspyre's orbital fortresses, the Blade Imperium. Waves of Night Scythes scream around the fortress' sprawling hull, beaming rank upon rank of attackers onto its armoured
hide. Impervious to the dangers of hard vacuum, Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals blast their way into the Blade Imperium, venting the fortress' atmosphere at a dozen key points. Hundreds of luckless humans are flung screaming into the void, Necron Immortals striding dispassionately down corridors splattered with the frozen remains of decompressed Imperial troopers. As Anrakyr himself makes his way into the fortress, the surviving garrison stage a final fight back, but in a bloody, one-sided gun battle across the Primus Concordium, the Necrons make short work of their assailants. Anrakyr now strikes the killing blow, channelling his furious will into the mighty weapon systems of the Blade Imperium and discharging its cyclopean batteries at the planet below. The bombardment is so horrifically destructive that it shatters the planet's crust and breaches its core, condemning Saintspyre to a slow and fiery death.
As Anrakyr departs the doomed world, morale throughout the system collapses, beginning a chain reaction that will sweep an entire segmentum with panic. After this day, Necron attacks will hold a new terror for the people of the Imperium, for if even the shield of the Emperor cannot hold this foe at bay, what chance does Humanity stand?
Necrons take revenge on a ruined Tomb World that had long been colonized by the Imperium and turned into a Shrine / Fortress World. The world's fleets and orbital defenses, which had so easily crushed all other foes that had tried to destroy them are utterly insufficient against the Necron Tomb Ships, which in turn crack open the planet's largest and greatest Orbital Fortress. Then, the Cryptek uses his technopathy to take control over the fortresses' weapons, and unleashes them onto the planet blow, which cracks and explodes.
The world had access to orbital defense fortress that wielded planet-busting weaponry, and yet could not destroy the ships of the Necrons.
The Beast Slai
The T'au sept world of Uan'voss is almost overrun by a sudden onslaught of Tyranids, only to be rescued by the most unlikely of saviours. Several legions of Necrons from the Atun Dynasty fall upon the swarming bio-horrors, their Monoliths and Annihilation Barges laying down a crippling bombardment of fire while a spearhead of Triarch Praetorians cut their way deep into the monstrous horde. Though the swarm fights back with the fury of a wounded beast, the Tyranids are caught between the attacking Necrons and the firepower of the surviving T'au. As the last chitinous horrors crash down dead, the entire Necron army turns on its collective heel and departs without a word of explanation. The bewildered T'au can do little but give thanks for their mysterious rescue, little knowing they have just witnessed the servants of the Silent King.
Szarekh is the best person.
An Unforgivable Theft
Illuminor Szeras leads warriors of the Sautekh Dynasty in an attack upon the Imperial world of Gorszt, destroying a fortress complex belonging to the Mentors Space Marine Chapter. As his prize, Szeras claims the entire stock of precious gene-seed that lies hidden beneath the fortress.
Necron Marines when?
Vengeance at Damnos
Twenty-five years after the Necrons drove the Imperium from Damnos, Marneus Calgar returns at the head of a massive force of Ultramarines, Astra Militarum and Deathwatch Kill Teams. The Damnosian nobility defend their world with everything they have, viewing this invasion with a mixture of contempt and outrage. The Space Marines and their allies sustain punishing casualties, whereas the Necrons rise from the blood-stained snows time and time again. As the battle reaches its height the Necrons unleash the might of their Baleful Necropolis. This airborne tomb complex dominates the fight ― mighty blasts of entropic energy from its Monoliths and the Tesseract Vault at its heart lash the Space Marine lines while the ground beneath them yawns into gnashing chasms. Only the desperate actions of Marneus Calgar himself see the Necropolis destroyed and the Transcendent C'tan set loose from its cage. Utter carnage follows, for the wrath of the vengeful star god is unleashed upon both armies. Captain Cato Sicarius saves the battered remnants of the Imperial force with a well-timed vortex grenade that obliterates the C'tan entirely. Damnos' Necrons are laid low, their leaders slain and their resurrection made impossible through the destruction of their stasis-crypts.
TRULY A VICTORY TO THE FORCES OF JUSTICE! It's also total PIS.
The Absorption Wars
Imotekh the Stormlord launches a series of extensive reconquests, intending to absorb those tomb worlds awakened by the Great Rift into the Sautekh Dynasty. The Necrons clash with the daemonic menace on a dozen different worlds, with a will to cleanse the newly aware planets and hence put their dynasties in his debt. With one side epitomising cold logic and order, and the other the white heat of chaos, neither can predict or understand their opponent. Casualties on both sides spiral into the billions, but Imotekh does not relent.
Imotekh's armies can have casualties numbering in the billions, and still remain strong.
Foundation of Sand
On the orders of Belisarius Cawl, Magos Dominus Dentrex Ologostion leads an excavation party to unearth the blackstone buried beneath the surface of the forge world Amontep II. No sooner has an array of noctilith obelisks been uncovered than rank after rank of Necrons arises from the rust-coloured sand. The ensuing battle-data that pours into Ologostion's tactical partition reveals an inescapable truth ― the ancient forge world of Amotep II is home to an even more ancient presence, one that has remained hidden from the Adeptus Mechanicus' most invasive geoscopic surveys for millennia.
Forgebane tie-in.
Imotekh is a grand strategist, perhaps the most accomplished the galaxy has ever known. His campaigns operate not only across worlds, but across entire star systems and sectors. When Imotekh launches an attack, it is impossible to discern if it is the main thrust of his strategy or simply a decoy raid, crafted to bleed enemy reinforcements away from a battle yet to come. All such assaults are carefully weighted to overwhelm forces already in place, requiring the foe to either sacrifice their troops or reinforce them ― and Imotekh's plans are always many stages ahead, set to take advantage of either course. Indeed, the Stormlord's battle plans are incredibly versatile, seeded with feint attacks, counter-strategies and other contingencies enacted automatically should certain circumstances be triggered or thresholds crossed. To outside observers there is something almost mystical to Imotekh's methodology, for how else could he so flawlessly anticipate the unseen? Yet in truth there is nothing more at play here than the careful application of probabilities and logic, combined with a canny understanding of the foe's mindset.
Imotekh the Stormlord's is one of the most brilliant strategists in the history of the galaxy.
As phaeron of the Sautekh, Imotekh can draw upon incredible resources, for the armies of the entire dynasty are his to requisition at need. Yet the Stormlord knows that the foe ― all other sentient life ― is too numerous for victory to be won through force of arms alone. Thus, for Imotekh, terror is a weapon as potent
as any in the Necron arsenal, and one he employs to full effect. His armies advance under the cover of storm-blackened skies, emerald lightning bolts arcing out from heavy clouds to wreak carnage amongst the foe. Enemy armies that advance into the shadow of the storm are simply swallowed up, cut off from all contact whilst the battle lasts. Any warriors that escape from the maelstrom's clutches do so only to sow panic, fear and dismay amongst their comrades. Worse, some such survivors are implanted with bloodswarm nanoscarabs, whose gore-warm scent acts as an irresistible beacon for roaming packs of Flayed Ones.
Imotekh's greatest weapon is fear. And once again we get things related to the shadows of his storm, which can apparently swallow the enemies that are underneath it. How is this some form of advanced Necron-tech and not magic is beyond me.
And there will be many opportunities for such a downfall. Imotekh's domain is growing at a rate unparalleled amongst the Necron dynasties. Over a hundred tomb worlds lie under his regal command, and five times as many alien-held planets pay direct or indirect tribute ― the number of alien civilisations Imotekh has destroyed during his campaigns cannot easily be counted. Such a realm is as nothing when compared to the galaxy-spanning Imperium or the Necron dynasties at the height of their glory, but is nonetheless impressive for the work of mere centuries.
Imotekh's empire holds over 100 Tomb Worlds and over 500 conquered alien worlds. It seems like a lot, but then you consider the immensity of the galaxy and that this is supposed to be the biggest Necron force.
Yet if the prize is large enough, internal power struggles can erupt into open conflict. When this occurs, the remainder of the tomb world's nobles align according to allegiance and ambition, though some will wait as long as possible before doing so whilst they negotiate the price of their loyalty. These internal wars invariably follow the formalised codes that governed the ancient Necrontyr, leading to battles with forces arranged and rules agreed in advance by the competitors. In times before biotransference, such events led to the slaughter of countless millions. Nowadays, thanks to the Necrons' capacity for self-repair, these wars can last for years or even centuries with no discernible victor.
A Civil War when your whole race has regenerative abilities isn't very productive...
When a Necron Lord or Overlord strides forth in his raiment of war, only the strongest and canniest of enemies have any hope of survival. His armoured form is proof against tank-busting weaponry; his metal sinews have might enough to crush bones to powder. At his command are all the arcane armaments of his ancient civilisation: warscythes, staffs of light and other wondrous tools of destruction. Yet perhaps a Necron noble's most potent weapon is his mind. Indeed, a phaeron has so much force of will that he can infuse nearby minions with a portion of his own burning determination, creating an unstoppable core of resistance against any foe.
The armoured body of a Necron Lord is immune against tank-busting weaponry. So even the lowliest Necron Lords / Phaerons are Tier 6.
Crypteks are members of pan-galactic conclaves of technologists whose purpose is to study and maintain the eldritch devices of their race. They are masters of dimensional dissonance, singularity manipulation, atomic transmutation, elemental transmogrification and countless other reason-defying technologies. In many ways, a Cryptek's powers mirror those employed by the psykers of other races, but with a crucial difference: instead of using a mutant mind to channel warp energies, the Cryptek employs arcane science to harness the universe's fundamental forces.
Every conclave specialises in a particular field of techno-sorcery, be it psychomancy, plasmancy, chronomancy or any one of a hundred thousand other disciplines. The conclaves were originally founded to share information and expertise from one end of the galaxy to the other, but have since become fragmented and isolated. In the millennia since biotransference, Crypteks have become just as stagnant and fragmented as every other aspect of Necron society. Nowadays, the surviving conclaves are maintained out of force of habit more than for any practical reason.
The reality-warping Hypertech of the Crypteks. They have control over just about everything you can think of, from dimensional manipulation, black holes, atomic manipulation, elemental transmutation, the fundamental forces of the universe, etc.
For his part, the Overlord gains the full fury of the Cryptek's incredible techno-sorceries. With a mere gesture of his staff of light, a Cryptek can unleash bolts of searing viridian energy that melt through the thickest armour with ease. The chronometron is another favoured treasure amongst the Crypteks. This eye-shaped device can alter and shift the flow of time around its bearer, slowing incoming energy blasts and flying bullets to a crawl. To better observe the effects of their rampaging creations, some Crypteks utilise Canoptek cloaks to soar above the fray ― each of these techno-arcane shrouds is attached to a spider-like construct that generates a powerful anti-gravity pressor field, allowing its wearer to speed through the air. This item also has a remarkable secondary function, able to stitch together a damaged necrodermis with its supple limbs and focused radiation beamers.
The technological marvels wielded by the Crypteks are the weapons of the gods, and only gods would think to stand against them.
Another description of the power of a Cryptek.
The C'tan might have provided the knowledge for biotransference, but it was Szeras who made it a reality. Even then, he saw it as the first of several steps on the path to ultimate evolution, a journey that would end as a creature not of flesh or metal, but as a god of pure energy. Until that day, Szeras is driven to take full advantage of his android form. After all, no longer must he sleep nor deal with the thousand frailties and distractions to which flesh is heir.
Necron wants to ascend into a god of pure energy.
Once seized, Szeras' specimens can look forward only to a pain-filled, though not necessarily brief, existence in the bloodstained and shadowed laboratory catacombs of Zantragora. Few of Szeras' operations are carried out on the dead, for he believes the knowledge he seeks resides only in the living. Banks of stasis machinery keep the subject alive and aware throughout the procedures, though they do nothing to numb the terrible pain. The specimens' agonised screams are of no consequence to Szeras, as he feels no kinship with such inferior beings. He simply shuts off his audio receptors until the repulsive noise subsides, watching impassively as his whirring tools carve the subject apart molecule by molecule.
Imagine being dissected alive on a molecular level by an alien robot cyborg mad scientist.
Orikan is a consummate astromancer, able to calculate the events of the future from the patterns of the stars. Thus did he know of the Fall of the Aeldari, the Rise of Man, the Horus Heresy, the coming of the Tyranids and the Great Rift many thousands of years before they came to pass. Through careful study and scrutiny, Orikan can even divine lesser occurrences: the movement of fleets, the destinies of individuals, even the strategies undertaken by campaigning armies ― events not important enough to reshape the galaxy, but the foreknowledge of which can dramatically change the fortunes of the beholder.
What the actual ****.
Skilled astromancer though he is, Orikan's predictions are not flawless. Unforeseen events can queer his calculations, altering, wiping out and replacing his prophesied timeline. Warp travel is a consistent aggravation, as its eddies and anarchies seem to delight in defying his predictions. Under such circumstances, to preserve his plans and reputation, Orikan is forced to employ a closely guarded set of chronomantic abilities. Travelling backwards down his own timeline, he emerges in the past at a point at which he can set his prophesied version of the future back on track, normally by having the interfering factor destroyed in some manner.
In Orikan's predictions, the Imperial Navy dockyards on Helios VI should never have survived the onset of Waaagh! Skullkrak, and did so only by an inconvenient intervention by the meddlesome Silver Skulls 4th Company. By retroactively arranging for the Space Marines to be ambushed and nearly wiped out by Necron forces some weeks earlier, Orikan ensured that the destruction of Helios VI ultimately occurred as first foreseen. Thus were the Necrons able to reclaim much of the surrounding sector, and more importantly, thus was Orikan's reputation kept intact.
Ah, I see. So his precognition is actually shit, but he can send his memories to the past.
Orikan takes great care to keep his machinations hidden from his peers. Though chronomancy is a science practiced by many other Crypteks, no other is remotely capable of Orikan's feats, something that would increase a hundredfold the suspicion in which he is held. And suspicion is the last thing Orikan needs at this moment. A thousand millennia of planning and preparation are about to come to fruition. Once the stars are in the proper alignment, Orikan will finally embrace his true destiny; his physical form will become a vessel for impossible celestial energies, making him a shining being of terrible power, and the temporal traps he has set throughout the galaxy will activate ― and, like a spider pulling at its web, Orikan will manipulate the skein of time itself to his advantage.
Like the guy before, Orikan ALSO wants to ascend into a god of pure energy, and obtain complete control over time.
Trazyn is a preserver of histories, artefacts and events. The vast and numberless vaults burrowed through the tomb world of Solemnace are crowded with technologies so rare and sublime that any Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priest would give the lives of several close colleagues just to know that they existed. It is a hoard ever growing, for history is always on the march and Trazyn strives to keep pace. Alas, not many worlds willingly give up the artefacts Trazyn seeks, selfishly clutching onto the few meaningful things in their civilisation rather than offering them up to be preserved through the ages. In such circumstances, Trazyn has little choice but to muster his armies and take them by force ― if this results in the destruction of a city, a planet or an entire sector, so be it.
Trazyn the Collector.
More to come...
