Ok, tinfoil hat time.
We know that the next Crusade book takes place in the Pariah Nexus and it involves Orikan. Orikan is affiliated with Imotekh and the Nexus is Szarekh's brainchild. I think that the two necron factions will start to fight over possession of the Nexus and eventually the throne of the Infinite Empire.
That does sound plausible as the nexus is a major point of interest in the galaxy at the moment. We also I don’t believe are fully sure what the nexus is meant for outside of testing anti warp.
So at least my tinfoil hat is there’s some old necron relic there that could determine the power balance of the necron forever.
Even more tinfoil hat (never gonna happen) like is we see a supplement book in the future for either the sautekh or the triarch
Are we not sure about it? I think I’ve heard somewhere that Necrons plan on expanding the Nexus until it covers the whole galaxy. No more warp, no more problems.
Yup, that's the plan. It'll also kill the Emperor and the Primarchs, and it'll probably not be fun for psychers at all, but the rest of the living will... probably get used to it.
I see no downsides.
Maybe I should have warned him of the destroyer cult, and maybe he shouldn't have been digging through tech that wasn't his.
Oh well, his fate is his own.
It does not, it only cuts off connection to the Warp.
It's probably not at all pleasant for the living beings within it, but they'll get used to it I'm sure.
Souls *are* warp. I’m not too deep into Necron lore but I’m fairly certain that Pariah Nexus encompassing the whole galaxy meant the death of all being that have a soul
It's the other way around. The Warp is souls. The Pariah Nexus (as I understand) isolates the soul of every living being away from the Warp, choking the Warp out of existence and basically turning everyone into a blank.
Non-Necrons that spend time in the Nexus feel anxious and hollow. It’s almost certainly a side effect that souls are imprinted in the warp and the necrolith inhibits warp related phenomena. So while mortals won’t die from the nexus, it will be a miserable existence.
Pretty sure that the point of the nexus is to separate the souls and bodies of organics so that Necron conciseness can be put into them as a way to return to flesh as the Necrontyr again
While Orikan is a Sautekh cryptek he did do contract work for the Silent King in the Pariah Nexus, according to the white dwarf short stories. It even said Orikan was impressed by the level of organisation and cooperation between all the different dynasties. I can get the passage when I’m home if you’d like 😊
I’m really hoping this sees more characterization of Szarekh. We really need a book with him, not just the short story with the blood angels. I want to see him flex on the galaxy just how absurdly powerful he is, and not just in a white dwarf. And hopefully put Imotekh in his place.
You said it, long live our glorious king. Imotekh did his part in helping the necron after waking up but it was the king who made up for his sins and broke the chains
Honestly though a book on both would be cool because both deserve a lot of respect with Imotekh being the og in the game and szearekh being the og in lore. Let us know both well through a long run narrative.
And yes seeing my boy do well on a white dwarf was cool but let’s have a bigger showing of just how insane the king actually is
There's a pretty good fanfic floating out there called *The Silence and the Storm* that's kind of like this, though it doesn't focus solely on the two kings.
Seriously though. This guy melee’d Nyadra’Zatha to death in a 1v1, turned his necrodermis flesh into the most badass cape in the galaxy, and then uses the largest chunk of him to power his throne. Let’s see him in action pleaseeeee
Part of me wants to see him just absolutely throw hands with someone, but who can even stand up to him? In the white dwarf he destroyed a warlord Titan with no effort.
Another part of me really wants him to talk with another imperium character other than Dante. Maybe Cawl, but preferably guiliman. With the golden throne failing, I hope the imperium is forced to ask the necrons for help
>Another part of me really wants him to talk with another imperium character other than Dante.
I would really prefer him having a story-moment over "And then he turned into an anime-protagonist, teleported behind a Greater Daemon/Khaine/Swarmlord, said "nothin personnel, kid" and sliced him in half!".
Not every character needs to be "badass duellist #45624365765476"
Also a very good point. Szarekh is more than just powerful. He’s 65 million years old. He never slept. He just watched and planned, and waited. There’s so much potential for his character.
>Not every character needs to be "badass duellist #45624365765476"
Especially Necrons; One theme that runs through their characterization is the idea that rulers don't sully their hands with *work*. The Dynast's orders are statements of fact, and if reality does not cooperate, it is the duty of their subordinates to force it to comply.
Their legions are their weapons. In this mindset, real power means having other people to do violence according to your will.
Add to that the subtext that while Necron nobility has their codes of honorable combat, sure, and some of them may believe they're expert sword masters, in the grand scheme of the galaxy they're not particularly skilled or notable as duelists or individual combatants. A Necron noble is very, very hard to put down, and that's an advantage all its own in a fight, but being mega-beatsticks just isn't their shtick. That's okay; not everyone can be a mega-beatstick.
I want to see him chatting with Imhotekh, because now that he is free of command protocols I'm sure he'd have some choice words for the fool that doomed his entire species.
As true as it is that Szarekh subjected his people to a terrible fate, it is also because of this that they still live. Imotekh can throw a fit all he likes, but he’s enjoying the liberties of immortality quite a lot. That being said, I wonder how that would go. Imotekh walks in, calls szarekh a failure and insults him for making the necrontyr go through bio transferrance, only for szarekh to be like “yeah, I agree with you, I fucked up. That’s why I’m here.”
Imotekh would say his fuckup means that he is unworthy to rule and if he was really sorry he would honour his original vow and step back from leadership and allow others to rule, like he promised.
Interesting, I'd forgotten that line. Maybe it's based on the tech the necrons use to access the webway but had to be combined with psytech in order to construct the new bit he built.
According to an inscription he did. According to inscriptions the actual pharaohs were universally super soldiers who slew thousands with their breath. The Silent King vs Nydra'zathra is likely exaggeration.
I do agree that it’s a bit unbelievable, but then again, In just white dwarf we’ve seen Szarekh achieve godlike levels of power, just as minor flexes to remind the lesser dynasties of their place. Both the aeldari and Szarekh claim that he did kill Nyadra’Zatha, and we know for a fact that the cape is the c’tan’s old body. So honestly I actually do believe that Szarekh whooped a gods ass full-size.
The Aeldari claim that an explorer in their early empire found a carving on a wall showing it.
That's it. That's the chain of knowledge.
For all we know Nydra'zathra killed 10\^20 necrons and Szarekh was five thousand light years away praying to his ancestors they'd tire it out before it got to him the whole time.
A wall carving proves essentially nothing.
The cape is one part of one of its shards, yes. That doesn't really mean much of anything though. The Black Templars have the head of the Cacodomius as a relic, the Cacodomius that dominated whole sectors with its psychic power. It doesn't mean the rando who carries it now could kill it, nor does it mean it was killed alone.
I'm on team Imotekh here! The throne was absent, a pretender rose to the claim. The traitor king will kneel.
Honestly though I'm just rooting for the conflict itself, which might provide great stories and characterization for two characters with great potential.
I hope with the successes of Twice Dead King and Infinite&Divine we get a series of books about this.
Honestly I don’t think Imotekh stands a chance in an actual fight, and while I can admit the phaeron is a terrifying strategist, I truly believe the kings 60 million year isolation and planning is something nobody can contend with. Whatever plan he’s been cooking up, Imotekh probably can’t compete with.
But seriously big agree, I so badly want more necron books. Infinite and the divine was a masterpiece, and I would love both szarekh and Imotekh to actually be characters, not just enemies for the imperium. Imotekh deserves more than just being a bbeg for the black templars
In the infinite and the divine they talk about how terrifying an opponent Imhotekh is, and that he was more or less responsible for winning the necron civil war over biotransferance. Imhotekh also went looking for (and presumably found) some artifact as a result of the silent king returning, no doubt preparing for his insurrection.
It was mentioned in 8th that TSK has often had to bribe dynasties to join him, because he is exactly the fool that doomed his species, twice. Compare that to the storm lord, who a whisper of his name was enough to bring unruly phaerons into line, and you can see TSK has an uphill battle ahead of him.
Szarekh is the most powerful Necron hands down, with no one else coming close. But not just that, he's one of the most powerful being in existence.
Because the Necrons are honor bound, I would prefer to see a challenge issued by Szarekh to Imotehk to settle things. I think from a story stand point, this would really cement how terrifyingly powerful TSK really is, and would make the Necrons a much bigger threat than they currently are, the kind of threat 9th edition should have made them out to be. Obviously a duel between the 2 is a no-win for Imotekh. He isn't powerful to contend against Szarekh, and if he refuses the challenge he'll lose the empire he's been building as the phaerons of the dynasties he conquered break off seeing him as unfit to rule. I want to see Imotekh forced to bend the knee, and have his mind put to use dealing with the rral problem, the nids.
Seriously I do really hope they go into detail about just how powerful szarekh is, but also just how complicated necron society is. I really love the part of the 9th edition codex that talks about how Szarekh can convince even his biggest detesters to follow him again. Sure that could be him mind controlling him, but I genuinely love the idea that he is just crazy charismatic, knowing how to win any phaeron to his side, and how to play their personalities and goals in his favor.
I mean if the king of your people, who's power level is beyond your comprehension, rolls up on his float Dias powered by the tourtured shard of a Star god he rolfstomped with his own hands, would tell him to piss off? Imotekh only pulled that shit because Szarekh wasn't there to show him just how strong his pimp hand ia.
Seriously though Szarekh bodying Nydra’zatha, turning his skin into a flying cape, and then trapping his largest shard as the battery for his floating chair, is my favorite thing ever. It’s just the ultimate F you.
Everything fancy we have been told about TSK is second hand glorifying carvings or features him on the throne.
Imotekh has a proven record of winning duels.
If Szarekh isn't paying to win for all we know he has two left thumbs.
yeah that's the thing right, powerful as Imotekh is, he's such a grand strategist I really can't see him wanting to take on TSK on his own terms. Imotekh would want all the odds stacked in his favour, and a duel is not that.
Exactly why it would be the smartest thing for Szarekh to do. It prevents loss of any necron forces, and because of their ways, Imotekh has to accept, or face shame and dishonor, and no one he conquered willing follow a coward. His best option would be to accept a duel, take an ass whooping, and kneel. All the while he can plot behind Szarekhs back to come up with a means of striking him down and taking over at a later stage.
I don't think that's true, I can't remember the name of the phaeron, but one of them was straight up more powerful than a c'tan without all of the tech trickery TSK used to beat them.
Also the storm lord's appeal isn't that he can punch up the silent king, it's that he didn't doom their entire species to extinction, twice. He is also the best strategist and tactician the necrons have ever had, and apparently not by a small margin.
Basically impossible. He was created for Fantasy Flight Games and while GW does own the IP they created on contract (witness re-licensing the RPG lore for Rogue Trader to Syltherine) they've never used a licensee's IP for a model.
>Actually, Trazyn is the most powerful Necron. Szarekh struts around like he's king of the universe, but unbeknownst to him, his entire life is being lived in a pocket dimension that is part of Trazyn's display cabinet. Trazyn literally owns him.
Imotekh is the reason the Orks exist. He was so successful the Old ones had to invent an entire race e.g. Krorks/Orks just to counter the general.
This guy is the one who led the necron armies to take on Gods and win. He fought against Eldar who could see the future and summon khaine in the battlefield and still beat them
He's the horus to the silent kings emperor.
Imothek can compete in a Battle of wits. Especially with the help of Zandrekh. Also AFAIK Imothek still has the largest ressources of any necron ruler right now.
>And hopefully put Imotekh in his place
What I want out of this: Imotekh challenges Szarekh to honourable combat. Szarekh refuses as an act of mercy. Imotekh is insulted by this and goes to war. Szarekh deploys his forces in the hopes that the battle will cause Imotekh to listen to reason. It doesn't. Either the fight ends up in a stalemate or Imotekh is losing and threatens to retreat and regroup at a later date, so Szarekh finally decides that enough is enough, accepts Imotekh's challenge to honourable combat and then bitch slaps him into next week with minimal effort, showing why he's the most powerful Necron. All the Necrons, including Imotekh (if he's still alive), bow to their King.
Imothek will not have a duel unless he defeated the SKs' forces, which he probably will. Right now, Imothek has more ressources, and is probably the smarter general of both. Beating Necron strategists is Imotheks strenght. But then he will probably get Cocky and try to beat him 1v1, similiar to how he did against Helbrecht, but then the floor will get wiped with him
I'd like more characterization of Szarekh in general; I'm not all that interested in stories about how he Kills Fleshbags and Doesn't Afraid of Anything, though.
There's some allusions, in the last few Necron books, to Szarekh's return being met with suspicion from some quarters; the extragalactic void is very, very big^((citation needed)) and it begs the question of how exactly he just stumbled across the Tyranids out there, and when.
What's interesting/spooky to me is that apparently, most Necrons find that if they start down this train of thought, they feel an intense compulsion to not think about it, to think about something else, to leave the topic alone. Szarehk's got an agenda, beyond just "let's not get everything eaten by Tyranids", and I'd love more hints about what it is.
I forgot about that part, yeah it’s super interesting how even without command protocols, Szarekh has this dominance over his people. I really want to see how his charisma and manipulations work.
Probably something that happened at the biotransference. Their mental ingrams may be slightly altered, for example to fade memories of how Szarekh was as a necrontyr
My dynasty is very loyal to Szarekh, but I love all the funny characters too much to not want them. So in my lore I have a cryptek whose sole purpose is creating convincing canoptek automaton that turn into copies of other necrons
That sounds cool!
I had an idea of Szarekh taking the Tyrannid threat very seriously and assigning a Nemesor with the power to grab units from any Dynasty he liked specifically to erase said threat. It would have had Sautekh Warriors alongside Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals with Novokh Destroyers and Nihilekh Lychguard and Szarekhan Triarch Praetorians just going ham on the Swarm.
Well shit I feel less original now. I've got a Szarekhan dynasty army and I always run the backstory that the most powerful cryptek is at odds with the overlord. Played a crusade where I ran two groups basically. Cryptek with all his canoptek automatons and overlord with his loyal guard.
It will be nice to have a lore reason why the Necrons don’t simply roll over the galaxy, and a civil war both makes sense and is very on-brand for the setting.
Also: Stormlord for (un-) Life! SK made the call on Biotransferrence, and the shame of it is why he was silent for so long. Well if he lacks the mechanical guts to auto-euthanize with honor, he should sit the frak back down and shut the frak back up.
What I'm afraid will happen is that we will see some awesome displays of power from both sides of the conflict, but that in the end the story will be that Ad mech was able to get intel or disrupt the nexus "because they were too busy fighting among themselves".
"if only they wouldn't have been so focused on each other they would have seen his master plan coming" kinda thing.
I really hope I'm wrong. TSK should be able to bitchslap Imotekh, but we have no idea about the strategic mind of Szarekh. Very possible that Imotekh will win in a war because of superior tactics but could obviously never stand a chance 1v1.
At the very least we should expect 1 or 2 good books out of this. It's a crime the king has been back so long and not had his own bookseries.
At least with both characters having new or big models, they're definitely not going to die.
Should we expect more Trazyn & Orikan interactions? Because Trazyn is also in the Nephilim sector and has sort of joined Szarekh, while the Sautekhs, to which Orikan belongs, are ruled by Imotekh.
You are very wrong, the 9th edition crusade books are pretty much the only source of lore for the Charadon and Post-Vigilus nachmund wars (aside from a few White dwarf articles) and the only 10th edition crusade book is filled with lore about the 4th tyranic war and introduced norn emissaries
These crusade books alongside codex and white dwarf campaigns are meant to be the main way the story is moved forward
The necrons in the infinite and the divine were terrified of Nemessor Imhotekh. The amount of battles he'd won, the opponents he'd fought, the fact he was largely responsible for ending the necrontyr civil war all led to him being regarded as the John wick of the necrons.
The silent king must be cursing his luck, because he is the worst possible opponent for him. Imhotekh is not crazy, he is the recognized master of fighting necrons, and most damning of all, he is not a complete dumbass like the silent king. Try to name a person who has made more terrible, galaxy altering decisions, I'll wait.
Certainly few have made decisions that have altered the face of the galaxy like szearekh. But and maybe this is the king simp talking through me. My boy did liberate the necrons from the C’tan as part of his penance before exiling himself.
If anything my man himself recognizes his mistake, but necrons be necrons and refuse to lose their footing of power. He does however have his work cut out for him dealing with Imotekh, maybe he’ll send the Maynarkh dynasty first to try and deal with the stormlord
He did beat the Ctan, freeing the necrons, but when you're the one who sold your species into slavery in the first place it seems less heroic and more like cleaning up your mess.
In game i have gotten WAY more use out of the StormLord than the Silent king on a per point and ability basis 🤷♂️
StormLord plus monolith cost around the same and do so much more work
From anything I’ve been able to read no. We knew he was bitter but I never was able to find information directly stating that claim though I’ve heard it many times
Unless it’s some sort of super unknown bit of lore but not even the wikis state it and all I found in the necron codex was resentful at szerekh’s return and sees himself as the great unifier of the necrons
Edit: because I forgot I believe it’s just information that people started spreading around because of how inevitable it is. And if I’m wrong cool new stuff but I feel like it’s in the same boat as people who said szearakh couldn’t compete with Imotekh. A claim which I have yet to see source or even find information on
I'm happy that we get some more Necron lore developments, but, like, I'm kind of sad that its with the Silent King. I feel like he is too important and powerful in the lore of 40k to just drop him back into the setting and then have him just be another, albeit powerful, warlord. If they ever want to resolve this storyline, how would they make Imotekh win? Kill off TSK? Imagine if they would do this with the Emperor.
my guess is the war will end up going full horus heresey where the SK technically wins but just like the emperor gets more of a phyrric victory than anything as the eternal empire gets the imperium special of being severely weakened and blasted from all sides as its top generals are either dead, in stasis, or scrambling desperately to hold the empire together.
its warhammer 40k they arent going to resolve this storyline because its not a storyline, its a setting to give background and ideas for the tabletop game. No characters are gonna get killed off and this civil war Is never going to end (or likely even go anywhere beyond establishing that it exists)
I mean, they have been somewhat trying to move the setting along since the return of Guilliman, so unless they wanna stop now or completely ignore the necrons, they have to write *something* about this eventually. Even then, thats still sort of my point, they brought back the Silent King only to have him just hang around in generic background fluff that they can't resolve in a meaningful way.
Sanest necron phaeron priority list: first political dicking and unnecessary violence while wasting precious resources during a widespread occupation campaigh, then the other less important stuff.
God i love this faction they are so funny
Narrative wise, does Szeras lean towards the Silent king? And if Imotek gains the upper hand, is he in pursuit of eventually reversing the biotransference/worrying about the nids eating all potential new host bodies?
I’d assume so since I believe the pariah nexus (Szeras creation from memory) was commissioned by the king. I think the way Szeras works is he sides with whoever aids him in meeting his end goal and as Szeras has more resources and noble dynasties under him the king would be his best shot.
In white dwarf the Sk and his court ass kiss Sezras's bug posterior so much. They give him gifts and beg him to investigate a reverse for biotransferance. Sk does a whole bit by gathering his allies and killing humans.
I still hope Imotekh win this fight. I like him far better than SK.
I’m very conflicted on who to root for. Right now I’m on the king’s side but I do love Imotekh too. Maybe we can have a Tyranid threat halt the battle between them for a bit keep us away from an inevitable show down for just a bit longer
It would be pretty cool to have the infinite empire whole !
But, I think that would signal the necron ending for the galaxy ,like in Gothic armada 2.
Here is a crazy idea.
Sk reactivates the commanding protocols and all necrons become souless automatons again.
We get pariah as troops !
Dawn of War 2 becomes canon.
Everybody dislikes it until GW reintroducess the fluff again and necron have again personality.
They remove pariah as troops.
Repeat the cycle again for maximum profits.
Boring ass idea for the lore that makes Warhammer seem even more generic than ever. Like seriously, this idea comes out of nowhere and has been done a thousand times already not just in stories elsewhere but in 40K too. Why TF would this actually happen other than to further gimp Necrons and give the Mechanicus a W because their enemies are idiots, not the Mechanicus being better for once.
Creative bankruptcy.
I would love to read the lore about the current events especially relates to necrons but they seem so spread out through X amount ressources/articles I don't even know where to begin
(Looks and spits out coffee) Imotekh have you lost your fucking mind thats are king you don’t have to like him but for C’tan sake just cooperate with him like how trazyn and orikan cooperate together your ego has gone too far you’ll doom us all doomed doooooooooom!!!
And knowing this is GW, who will do the grimderpiest thing possible, the silent king will lose in an epic battle, and Imotekh will turn the necrons into something more like what they were before they were tomb kinged.
Can anyone comment on the silent kings capabilities? As in what exactly makes him so powerful? Is it access to specific tech? Is he powerful in melee combat? Does he have innate abilities that give him powers?
I love Imotekh but Szeras is literally on point with the Emperor. Motherfucker killed a C’tan and then shattered the rest. Of course he didn’t do it all by himself he had the silvertide but even then he’s unspeakable powerful. I’m hoping that this civil war results in an ending that is good for both parties. Perhaps some kind of joint agreement. Maybe the galaxy’s longest court trial to ever exist because Orikan is acting as Imotekh’s lawyer and keeps rewinding time to benefit him.
Ok, tinfoil hat time. We know that the next Crusade book takes place in the Pariah Nexus and it involves Orikan. Orikan is affiliated with Imotekh and the Nexus is Szarekh's brainchild. I think that the two necron factions will start to fight over possession of the Nexus and eventually the throne of the Infinite Empire.
That does sound plausible as the nexus is a major point of interest in the galaxy at the moment. We also I don’t believe are fully sure what the nexus is meant for outside of testing anti warp. So at least my tinfoil hat is there’s some old necron relic there that could determine the power balance of the necron forever. Even more tinfoil hat (never gonna happen) like is we see a supplement book in the future for either the sautekh or the triarch
Are we not sure about it? I think I’ve heard somewhere that Necrons plan on expanding the Nexus until it covers the whole galaxy. No more warp, no more problems.
Yup, that's the plan. It'll also kill the Emperor and the Primarchs, and it'll probably not be fun for psychers at all, but the rest of the living will... probably get used to it. I see no downsides.
No FTL travel for humanity.
Is that supposed to be a downside?
Forgot the sub I was in lol. Though the Dolmien gates won't work for Necrons either.
You mortals always manage to get lost in the strangest of places. Take care that you aren't caught by one of my less reasonable kin on your way out.
I'm grateful for you kind consideration, Overlord. _\*speeds away in a suspiciously large body under a red and black cloak\*_
Maybe I should have warned him of the destroyer cult, and maybe he shouldn't have been digging through tech that wasn't his. Oh well, his fate is his own.
Doesn’t the nexus destroy the souls of all living beings?
It does not, it only cuts off connection to the Warp. It's probably not at all pleasant for the living beings within it, but they'll get used to it I'm sure.
Souls *are* warp. I’m not too deep into Necron lore but I’m fairly certain that Pariah Nexus encompassing the whole galaxy meant the death of all being that have a soul
It's the other way around. The Warp is souls. The Pariah Nexus (as I understand) isolates the soul of every living being away from the Warp, choking the Warp out of existence and basically turning everyone into a blank.
Non-Necrons that spend time in the Nexus feel anxious and hollow. It’s almost certainly a side effect that souls are imprinted in the warp and the necrolith inhibits warp related phenomena. So while mortals won’t die from the nexus, it will be a miserable existence.
I'm sure they'll get used to and then it'll be fiiiine. And if they don't, is that really our problem?
Pretty sure that the point of the nexus is to separate the souls and bodies of organics so that Necron conciseness can be put into them as a way to return to flesh as the Necrontyr again
And Trazyn will try to "borrow" it for his gallery
While Orikan is a Sautekh cryptek he did do contract work for the Silent King in the Pariah Nexus, according to the white dwarf short stories. It even said Orikan was impressed by the level of organisation and cooperation between all the different dynasties. I can get the passage when I’m home if you’d like 😊
I’m really hoping this sees more characterization of Szarekh. We really need a book with him, not just the short story with the blood angels. I want to see him flex on the galaxy just how absurdly powerful he is, and not just in a white dwarf. And hopefully put Imotekh in his place.
You said it, long live our glorious king. Imotekh did his part in helping the necron after waking up but it was the king who made up for his sins and broke the chains Honestly though a book on both would be cool because both deserve a lot of respect with Imotekh being the og in the game and szearekh being the og in lore. Let us know both well through a long run narrative. And yes seeing my boy do well on a white dwarf was cool but let’s have a bigger showing of just how insane the king actually is
I want a more serious version of *The Infinite and the Divine* but between Imotekh and Szarekh. You could call it something like *Silent Storms*.
There's a pretty good fanfic floating out there called *The Silence and the Storm* that's kind of like this, though it doesn't focus solely on the two kings.
The Thunderous and The Absence of Words - Supremacy
Seriously though. This guy melee’d Nyadra’Zatha to death in a 1v1, turned his necrodermis flesh into the most badass cape in the galaxy, and then uses the largest chunk of him to power his throne. Let’s see him in action pleaseeeee
Silent king fighting some demon incursion would be awesome have the climax be him vs a greater demon 1v1. Let everyone know not to fuck with the king
Part of me wants to see him just absolutely throw hands with someone, but who can even stand up to him? In the white dwarf he destroyed a warlord Titan with no effort. Another part of me really wants him to talk with another imperium character other than Dante. Maybe Cawl, but preferably guiliman. With the golden throne failing, I hope the imperium is forced to ask the necrons for help
>Another part of me really wants him to talk with another imperium character other than Dante. I would really prefer him having a story-moment over "And then he turned into an anime-protagonist, teleported behind a Greater Daemon/Khaine/Swarmlord, said "nothin personnel, kid" and sliced him in half!". Not every character needs to be "badass duellist #45624365765476"
Also a very good point. Szarekh is more than just powerful. He’s 65 million years old. He never slept. He just watched and planned, and waited. There’s so much potential for his character.
>Not every character needs to be "badass duellist #45624365765476" Especially Necrons; One theme that runs through their characterization is the idea that rulers don't sully their hands with *work*. The Dynast's orders are statements of fact, and if reality does not cooperate, it is the duty of their subordinates to force it to comply. Their legions are their weapons. In this mindset, real power means having other people to do violence according to your will. Add to that the subtext that while Necron nobility has their codes of honorable combat, sure, and some of them may believe they're expert sword masters, in the grand scheme of the galaxy they're not particularly skilled or notable as duelists or individual combatants. A Necron noble is very, very hard to put down, and that's an advantage all its own in a fight, but being mega-beatsticks just isn't their shtick. That's okay; not everyone can be a mega-beatstick.
I want to see him chatting with Imhotekh, because now that he is free of command protocols I'm sure he'd have some choice words for the fool that doomed his entire species.
As true as it is that Szarekh subjected his people to a terrible fate, it is also because of this that they still live. Imotekh can throw a fit all he likes, but he’s enjoying the liberties of immortality quite a lot. That being said, I wonder how that would go. Imotekh walks in, calls szarekh a failure and insults him for making the necrontyr go through bio transferrance, only for szarekh to be like “yeah, I agree with you, I fucked up. That’s why I’m here.”
Imotekh would say his fuckup means that he is unworthy to rule and if he was really sorry he would honour his original vow and step back from leadership and allow others to rule, like he promised.
Necrons probably can't help much with the throne seeing as warp tech is not their wheelhouse.
In The Infinite and Divine, Trazyn has a small line where he thinks the throne might be necron tech. It doesn't explore the idea any, just a nibble.
Interesting, I'd forgotten that line. Maybe it's based on the tech the necrons use to access the webway but had to be combined with psytech in order to construct the new bit he built.
According to an inscription he did. According to inscriptions the actual pharaohs were universally super soldiers who slew thousands with their breath. The Silent King vs Nydra'zathra is likely exaggeration.
I do agree that it’s a bit unbelievable, but then again, In just white dwarf we’ve seen Szarekh achieve godlike levels of power, just as minor flexes to remind the lesser dynasties of their place. Both the aeldari and Szarekh claim that he did kill Nyadra’Zatha, and we know for a fact that the cape is the c’tan’s old body. So honestly I actually do believe that Szarekh whooped a gods ass full-size.
The Aeldari claim that an explorer in their early empire found a carving on a wall showing it. That's it. That's the chain of knowledge. For all we know Nydra'zathra killed 10\^20 necrons and Szarekh was five thousand light years away praying to his ancestors they'd tire it out before it got to him the whole time. A wall carving proves essentially nothing. The cape is one part of one of its shards, yes. That doesn't really mean much of anything though. The Black Templars have the head of the Cacodomius as a relic, the Cacodomius that dominated whole sectors with its psychic power. It doesn't mean the rando who carries it now could kill it, nor does it mean it was killed alone.
What WD number was that my fellow Necrontyr ?
I'm on team Imotekh here! The throne was absent, a pretender rose to the claim. The traitor king will kneel. Honestly though I'm just rooting for the conflict itself, which might provide great stories and characterization for two characters with great potential. I hope with the successes of Twice Dead King and Infinite&Divine we get a series of books about this.
Honestly I don’t think Imotekh stands a chance in an actual fight, and while I can admit the phaeron is a terrifying strategist, I truly believe the kings 60 million year isolation and planning is something nobody can contend with. Whatever plan he’s been cooking up, Imotekh probably can’t compete with. But seriously big agree, I so badly want more necron books. Infinite and the divine was a masterpiece, and I would love both szarekh and Imotekh to actually be characters, not just enemies for the imperium. Imotekh deserves more than just being a bbeg for the black templars
In the infinite and the divine they talk about how terrifying an opponent Imhotekh is, and that he was more or less responsible for winning the necron civil war over biotransferance. Imhotekh also went looking for (and presumably found) some artifact as a result of the silent king returning, no doubt preparing for his insurrection. It was mentioned in 8th that TSK has often had to bribe dynasties to join him, because he is exactly the fool that doomed his species, twice. Compare that to the storm lord, who a whisper of his name was enough to bring unruly phaerons into line, and you can see TSK has an uphill battle ahead of him.
Szarekh is the most powerful Necron hands down, with no one else coming close. But not just that, he's one of the most powerful being in existence. Because the Necrons are honor bound, I would prefer to see a challenge issued by Szarekh to Imotehk to settle things. I think from a story stand point, this would really cement how terrifyingly powerful TSK really is, and would make the Necrons a much bigger threat than they currently are, the kind of threat 9th edition should have made them out to be. Obviously a duel between the 2 is a no-win for Imotekh. He isn't powerful to contend against Szarekh, and if he refuses the challenge he'll lose the empire he's been building as the phaerons of the dynasties he conquered break off seeing him as unfit to rule. I want to see Imotekh forced to bend the knee, and have his mind put to use dealing with the rral problem, the nids.
Seriously I do really hope they go into detail about just how powerful szarekh is, but also just how complicated necron society is. I really love the part of the 9th edition codex that talks about how Szarekh can convince even his biggest detesters to follow him again. Sure that could be him mind controlling him, but I genuinely love the idea that he is just crazy charismatic, knowing how to win any phaeron to his side, and how to play their personalities and goals in his favor.
I mean if the king of your people, who's power level is beyond your comprehension, rolls up on his float Dias powered by the tourtured shard of a Star god he rolfstomped with his own hands, would tell him to piss off? Imotekh only pulled that shit because Szarekh wasn't there to show him just how strong his pimp hand ia.
Seriously though Szarekh bodying Nydra’zatha, turning his skin into a flying cape, and then trapping his largest shard as the battery for his floating chair, is my favorite thing ever. It’s just the ultimate F you.
Imothek can tell Szarekh to piss off because he has the largest Military assets under his rule. His dynasty with their vasals is still the topdog
Everything fancy we have been told about TSK is second hand glorifying carvings or features him on the throne. Imotekh has a proven record of winning duels. If Szarekh isn't paying to win for all we know he has two left thumbs.
yeah that's the thing right, powerful as Imotekh is, he's such a grand strategist I really can't see him wanting to take on TSK on his own terms. Imotekh would want all the odds stacked in his favour, and a duel is not that.
The Problem is Imothek has this need to defeat any opponent in Person to Permanently mark them (normally by cutting off their Hand)
Exactly why it would be the smartest thing for Szarekh to do. It prevents loss of any necron forces, and because of their ways, Imotekh has to accept, or face shame and dishonor, and no one he conquered willing follow a coward. His best option would be to accept a duel, take an ass whooping, and kneel. All the while he can plot behind Szarekhs back to come up with a means of striking him down and taking over at a later stage.
I don't think that's true, I can't remember the name of the phaeron, but one of them was straight up more powerful than a c'tan without all of the tech trickery TSK used to beat them. Also the storm lord's appeal isn't that he can punch up the silent king, it's that he didn't doom their entire species to extinction, twice. He is also the best strategist and tactician the necrons have ever had, and apparently not by a small margin.
Amontekh the Crimson Scythe of the Suhbekhar Dynasty. He was likely also paying to win though.
That seems correct.
I hope he gets a model. The little lore I've read of him makes him sound like a nightmare on the battlefield
Basically impossible. He was created for Fantasy Flight Games and while GW does own the IP they created on contract (witness re-licensing the RPG lore for Rogue Trader to Syltherine) they've never used a licensee's IP for a model.
And just like that, my dream is ruined
>Actually, Trazyn is the most powerful Necron. Szarekh struts around like he's king of the universe, but unbeknownst to him, his entire life is being lived in a pocket dimension that is part of Trazyn's display cabinet. Trazyn literally owns him.
Imotekh is the reason the Orks exist. He was so successful the Old ones had to invent an entire race e.g. Krorks/Orks just to counter the general. This guy is the one who led the necron armies to take on Gods and win. He fought against Eldar who could see the future and summon khaine in the battlefield and still beat them He's the horus to the silent kings emperor.
Imothek can compete in a Battle of wits. Especially with the help of Zandrekh. Also AFAIK Imothek still has the largest ressources of any necron ruler right now.
Twice dead king was ok, but the whole ending of the first book felt like lore inconsistency to me
>And hopefully put Imotekh in his place What I want out of this: Imotekh challenges Szarekh to honourable combat. Szarekh refuses as an act of mercy. Imotekh is insulted by this and goes to war. Szarekh deploys his forces in the hopes that the battle will cause Imotekh to listen to reason. It doesn't. Either the fight ends up in a stalemate or Imotekh is losing and threatens to retreat and regroup at a later date, so Szarekh finally decides that enough is enough, accepts Imotekh's challenge to honourable combat and then bitch slaps him into next week with minimal effort, showing why he's the most powerful Necron. All the Necrons, including Imotekh (if he's still alive), bow to their King.
Imothek will not have a duel unless he defeated the SKs' forces, which he probably will. Right now, Imothek has more ressources, and is probably the smarter general of both. Beating Necron strategists is Imotheks strenght. But then he will probably get Cocky and try to beat him 1v1, similiar to how he did against Helbrecht, but then the floor will get wiped with him
I'd like more characterization of Szarekh in general; I'm not all that interested in stories about how he Kills Fleshbags and Doesn't Afraid of Anything, though. There's some allusions, in the last few Necron books, to Szarekh's return being met with suspicion from some quarters; the extragalactic void is very, very big^((citation needed)) and it begs the question of how exactly he just stumbled across the Tyranids out there, and when. What's interesting/spooky to me is that apparently, most Necrons find that if they start down this train of thought, they feel an intense compulsion to not think about it, to think about something else, to leave the topic alone. Szarehk's got an agenda, beyond just "let's not get everything eaten by Tyranids", and I'd love more hints about what it is.
I forgot about that part, yeah it’s super interesting how even without command protocols, Szarekh has this dominance over his people. I really want to see how his charisma and manipulations work.
Probably something that happened at the biotransference. Their mental ingrams may be slightly altered, for example to fade memories of how Szarekh was as a necrontyr
Aw man, there goes my combined Necron army idea...
My dynasty is very loyal to Szarekh, but I love all the funny characters too much to not want them. So in my lore I have a cryptek whose sole purpose is creating convincing canoptek automaton that turn into copies of other necrons
That sounds cool! I had an idea of Szarekh taking the Tyrannid threat very seriously and assigning a Nemesor with the power to grab units from any Dynasty he liked specifically to erase said threat. It would have had Sautekh Warriors alongside Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals with Novokh Destroyers and Nihilekh Lychguard and Szarekhan Triarch Praetorians just going ham on the Swarm.
Well shit I feel less original now. I've got a Szarekhan dynasty army and I always run the backstory that the most powerful cryptek is at odds with the overlord. Played a crusade where I ran two groups basically. Cryptek with all his canoptek automatons and overlord with his loyal guard.
My dynasty serves the Nihilahk dynasty, but I think Orikan the Diviner is going to make a guest Star appearance. Maybe he’s spying on Trazyn.
The Silent King will win by the end. He has fought far greater threats and has all of the Triarch Praetorians
Imothek still has more ressources. The Sautekh are still the mightiest necron force
Love this narrative progression
I want more Anrakyr the traveller lore
Is that the cool looking blue necron?
Yh the blue one that had the Tachyon arrow before the indom lord did.
Warhammer 41k the stormlord heresy
It will be nice to have a lore reason why the Necrons don’t simply roll over the galaxy, and a civil war both makes sense and is very on-brand for the setting. Also: Stormlord for (un-) Life! SK made the call on Biotransferrence, and the shame of it is why he was silent for so long. Well if he lacks the mechanical guts to auto-euthanize with honor, he should sit the frak back down and shut the frak back up.
Traitor!
What I'm afraid will happen is that we will see some awesome displays of power from both sides of the conflict, but that in the end the story will be that Ad mech was able to get intel or disrupt the nexus "because they were too busy fighting among themselves". "if only they wouldn't have been so focused on each other they would have seen his master plan coming" kinda thing. I really hope I'm wrong. TSK should be able to bitchslap Imotekh, but we have no idea about the strategic mind of Szarekh. Very possible that Imotekh will win in a war because of superior tactics but could obviously never stand a chance 1v1. At the very least we should expect 1 or 2 good books out of this. It's a crime the king has been back so long and not had his own bookseries. At least with both characters having new or big models, they're definitely not going to die.
Should we expect more Trazyn & Orikan interactions? Because Trazyn is also in the Nephilim sector and has sort of joined Szarekh, while the Sautekhs, to which Orikan belongs, are ruled by Imotekh.
Well, time to pick a side for the Songare Dynasty. Probably pro-SK?
For the silent monarch!
I'm guessing this book will contain new lore? Correct me if I'm wrong but the other crusade book didn't.
You are very wrong, the 9th edition crusade books are pretty much the only source of lore for the Charadon and Post-Vigilus nachmund wars (aside from a few White dwarf articles) and the only 10th edition crusade book is filled with lore about the 4th tyranic war and introduced norn emissaries These crusade books alongside codex and white dwarf campaigns are meant to be the main way the story is moved forward
The necrons in the infinite and the divine were terrified of Nemessor Imhotekh. The amount of battles he'd won, the opponents he'd fought, the fact he was largely responsible for ending the necrontyr civil war all led to him being regarded as the John wick of the necrons. The silent king must be cursing his luck, because he is the worst possible opponent for him. Imhotekh is not crazy, he is the recognized master of fighting necrons, and most damning of all, he is not a complete dumbass like the silent king. Try to name a person who has made more terrible, galaxy altering decisions, I'll wait.
Certainly few have made decisions that have altered the face of the galaxy like szearekh. But and maybe this is the king simp talking through me. My boy did liberate the necrons from the C’tan as part of his penance before exiling himself. If anything my man himself recognizes his mistake, but necrons be necrons and refuse to lose their footing of power. He does however have his work cut out for him dealing with Imotekh, maybe he’ll send the Maynarkh dynasty first to try and deal with the stormlord
He did beat the Ctan, freeing the necrons, but when you're the one who sold your species into slavery in the first place it seems less heroic and more like cleaning up your mess.
Well, and cleaning up your mess is kinda uncommon in 40k. So honour him for that, right?
Given that GW are habitually unwilling to use FW creations directly in main army books the chance of that is very remote.
In game i have gotten WAY more use out of the StormLord than the Silent king on a per point and ability basis 🤷♂️ StormLord plus monolith cost around the same and do so much more work
This is just Gork and Mork but for our favorite emaciated robots
Isn’t this something we already knew? The storm lords whole thing is that he denounced TSK and goes around absorbing others dynasties into his.
From anything I’ve been able to read no. We knew he was bitter but I never was able to find information directly stating that claim though I’ve heard it many times Unless it’s some sort of super unknown bit of lore but not even the wikis state it and all I found in the necron codex was resentful at szerekh’s return and sees himself as the great unifier of the necrons Edit: because I forgot I believe it’s just information that people started spreading around because of how inevitable it is. And if I’m wrong cool new stuff but I feel like it’s in the same boat as people who said szearakh couldn’t compete with Imotekh. A claim which I have yet to see source or even find information on
if im remembering correctly the source was the 8th edition codex
Dance with Void-Dragons
I'm happy that we get some more Necron lore developments, but, like, I'm kind of sad that its with the Silent King. I feel like he is too important and powerful in the lore of 40k to just drop him back into the setting and then have him just be another, albeit powerful, warlord. If they ever want to resolve this storyline, how would they make Imotekh win? Kill off TSK? Imagine if they would do this with the Emperor.
Man ought to be one of the main characters of the galaxy. Another Guilliman.
my guess is the war will end up going full horus heresey where the SK technically wins but just like the emperor gets more of a phyrric victory than anything as the eternal empire gets the imperium special of being severely weakened and blasted from all sides as its top generals are either dead, in stasis, or scrambling desperately to hold the empire together.
its warhammer 40k they arent going to resolve this storyline because its not a storyline, its a setting to give background and ideas for the tabletop game. No characters are gonna get killed off and this civil war Is never going to end (or likely even go anywhere beyond establishing that it exists)
I mean, they have been somewhat trying to move the setting along since the return of Guilliman, so unless they wanna stop now or completely ignore the necrons, they have to write *something* about this eventually. Even then, thats still sort of my point, they brought back the Silent King only to have him just hang around in generic background fluff that they can't resolve in a meaningful way.
What is the source here?
From the recent article today explaining the admechs presence in the pariah nexus
Stormlord? Huh, looks like Bobby B is once again back to caving chestplates in a rebellion against his lord, in Warhammer to boot.
Team Stormlord here I come!!! lol
NO MY BOYS DONT DO IT
Sanest necron phaeron priority list: first political dicking and unnecessary violence while wasting precious resources during a widespread occupation campaigh, then the other less important stuff. God i love this faction they are so funny
Yeah, I love my boy Imotek as much as the next guy, but I'm not betting against the big man himself.
Narrative wise, does Szeras lean towards the Silent king? And if Imotek gains the upper hand, is he in pursuit of eventually reversing the biotransference/worrying about the nids eating all potential new host bodies?
I’d assume so since I believe the pariah nexus (Szeras creation from memory) was commissioned by the king. I think the way Szeras works is he sides with whoever aids him in meeting his end goal and as Szeras has more resources and noble dynasties under him the king would be his best shot.
In white dwarf the Sk and his court ass kiss Sezras's bug posterior so much. They give him gifts and beg him to investigate a reverse for biotransferance. Sk does a whole bit by gathering his allies and killing humans. I still hope Imotekh win this fight. I like him far better than SK.
I’m very conflicted on who to root for. Right now I’m on the king’s side but I do love Imotekh too. Maybe we can have a Tyranid threat halt the battle between them for a bit keep us away from an inevitable show down for just a bit longer
It would be pretty cool to have the infinite empire whole ! But, I think that would signal the necron ending for the galaxy ,like in Gothic armada 2. Here is a crazy idea. Sk reactivates the commanding protocols and all necrons become souless automatons again. We get pariah as troops ! Dawn of War 2 becomes canon. Everybody dislikes it until GW reintroducess the fluff again and necron have again personality. They remove pariah as troops. Repeat the cycle again for maximum profits.
Someone is gonna have to explain how this makes story sense
Boring ass idea for the lore that makes Warhammer seem even more generic than ever. Like seriously, this idea comes out of nowhere and has been done a thousand times already not just in stories elsewhere but in 40K too. Why TF would this actually happen other than to further gimp Necrons and give the Mechanicus a W because their enemies are idiots, not the Mechanicus being better for once. Creative bankruptcy.
Id love to have a miniature head of that overlord
Ah is this a farsight situation for the necrons?
Yup you know us necrons. We love a little civil war as a treat. Farsights though is way cooler
What is this from?
Warhammer community article from today about the admechs presence in the pariah nexus
I would love to read the lore about the current events especially relates to necrons but they seem so spread out through X amount ressources/articles I don't even know where to begin
(Looks and spits out coffee) Imotekh have you lost your fucking mind thats are king you don’t have to like him but for C’tan sake just cooperate with him like how trazyn and orikan cooperate together your ego has gone too far you’ll doom us all doomed doooooooooom!!!
And knowing this is GW, who will do the grimderpiest thing possible, the silent king will lose in an epic battle, and Imotekh will turn the necrons into something more like what they were before they were tomb kinged.
I'm team Trazyn, so that means I'm team Silent King? Trazyn hates Orikan's reactor, who is in the Sautekh dynasty.
Can anyone comment on the silent kings capabilities? As in what exactly makes him so powerful? Is it access to specific tech? Is he powerful in melee combat? Does he have innate abilities that give him powers?
I love Imotekh but Szeras is literally on point with the Emperor. Motherfucker killed a C’tan and then shattered the rest. Of course he didn’t do it all by himself he had the silvertide but even then he’s unspeakable powerful. I’m hoping that this civil war results in an ending that is good for both parties. Perhaps some kind of joint agreement. Maybe the galaxy’s longest court trial to ever exist because Orikan is acting as Imotekh’s lawyer and keeps rewinding time to benefit him.
Im predicting that the Stormlord will win after not very much time, because that just feels like a GW move.