Ahmontekh
Ahmontekh, known as the Crimson Scythe, is the Phaeron of the Necron Suhbekhar Dynasty.[1]
History
Phaeron Ahmontekh, called in ages past the Crimson Scythe for the blood in which he drenched the sector, is the once and future king of the Suhbekhar Dynasty. The Phaeron was at one time counted amongst the most puissant of warriors and his name was feared across countless thousands of worlds. He fought at the side of the C’tan themselves, and is said to have once struck a blow that slew a god. He bore a warscythe of such potency that it is said to have shattered the planet Maldek into a billion chunks of rock in a single blow, an event which several of the Eldar’s mystic cyclesingers make reference to many aeons later.[1]
Were it not for the all consuming hatred in which the Phaeron holds his rival dynasty the Charnovokh Dynastys, Ahmontekh would in all likelihood be leading the reawakening of the Suhbekhar Necrons as they rise across the Jericho Reach. But it was not to be, for that sliver of hate that the Phaeron bore inside his consciousness as he lay down in his stasis casket refused to slumber with him.[1]
Distilled for sixty million years, that iota of resentment grew to consume the sleeping Phaeron’s entire consciousness so that, when the Hollow Sun’s control program attempted to awaken him in response to the transmission from the Charnovokhs, it burst forth like a tsunami breaking through a fatally breached dam. All that Ahmontekh had once been was gone, consumed over the aeons by his own hatred even as the last residue of himself looked on helplessly. Perhaps had the Necrons not sold their souls to the C’tan, something of him might have survived to fight back against the raging bitterness within, but it was not to be. Now, the Crimson Scythe of old is no more, and that distilled essence of his resentment of his own cousin dynasty is all that remains of his consciousness.[1]
To the detriment of the Necrons of the Suhbekhar Dynasty, however, there is far more locked up inside the living metal cranium of the slumbering Phaeron than the overlord-regent or most of his Crypteks are aware. The overlord-regent has guessed something of it, yet even he is not party to anything like the whole truth. The awful secrets lurking in the ruined consciousness of the Phaeron of the Suhbekhar Dynasty are hinted at in numerous disjointed sources, yet no one observer can see their entirety. The regent knows that the Phaeron bears the dynasty’s command protocols, and is coming to see that Ahmontekh was the architect of far more than the Hollow Sun, his legacy cast across the countless systems of the Jericho Reach and beyond. Others still have glimpsed something more of the truth, including the aeons-dead compiler of the Derleth Lexicon as well as a number of the Crypteks Overlord-Regent Ahhotekh has tasked with attending to the blasted Phaeron. Unbeknownst to the regent, his most trusted counselor, Ozkan the Codifier, has caught a glimpse of something an order of magnitude greater even than the miracle of stellar engineering that is the Suhbekhar Dynasty’s magnificent crown world.[1]
Exactly what the Cryptek has glimpsed may or may not be the truth, for the Phaeron’s consciousness may only be examined one blasted iota at a time. Initially, the venerable Cryptek feared that the Phaeron had fallen pray to the dreaded Flayer Virus, and in truth this fate remains a possibility. The dark visions that have thus far been rendered up hint that the Crimson Scythe was blessed of terrible knowledge of the future. He saw that, because he had slain one of their gods and laid waste to vast tracts of the webway, the Eldar would never rest until he was hunted down. The Star-Slayer knew that the Eldar, or their heirs, would stand eternal vigil over any region they believed might harbour his secret resting place. So he set in motion certain contingencies to ensure that, when he awoke, the Eldar would be overwhelmed and the attentions of any other watchers drawn away from the Hollow Sun long enough for all of its serried legions to fully awaken.[1]
To date, none can tell if these visions of dark splendour represent the truth or some scrap of intent drifting upon the ocean of raging bitterness that is the Phaeron’s slumbering consciousness. Ozkan has thus far kept what he has seen to himself, as have those other Crypteks attending to their lost Phaeron.[1]
There is another facet of the Phaeron’s nature that the vast majority of his subjects are entirely unaware of. This is that fact that in addition to being a great warrior-king, Ahmontekh shared the grief that the Silent King, master of all the Necrons, felt at the terrible price paid in return for immortality. While he may, if the dark wisdom suggested by the disparate sources is correct, have set in motion a plan to devastate the enemies of his people, he also had some manner of plan to ensure that the Necrons would inherit all that they had lost. This indeed was the last promise of the Silent King before he took his leave of the known galaxy sixty million years ago, and it may well be that the Crimson Scythe, the Star-Slayer of the Suhbekhar Dynasty, shared that vision. If so, what dark fate might yet await the Jericho Reach in the aftermath of the revelation of the Dark Pattern? Having scoured the stars themselves of his waiting foes, what darkly glorious future did Ahmontekh hold in store for his dynasty? Some amongst the Dead Cabal have voiced the opinion that the Necrons themselves might represent but a part of a still larger doom yet to be revealed.[1]
Of course, it is entirely possible that this vision of dark slaughter is nothing more than the fevered construct of a mind that has fallen prey to the blight of the destroyed C'tan known as the Flayer, whose final curse upon the Necrons was a slow-burning and lingering insanity that would only become manifest in aeons to come. The Crypteks cannot entirely discount the possibility that their Phaeron has fallen prey to this terrible malady, though if this is so it must surely be the first case of one so highly placed being afflicted by the insanity. If it is the case, what vile evils might be enacted upon the galaxy should the Necrons determined to disinter their accursed flayer king?[1]
Sources
- 1: Deathwatch: The Outer Reach, pgs. 114–115
