Infinite Empire

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Infinite Empire
Ankh triarch.png
Capital: None known, the ship Song of Oblivion currently serves as the mobile court of the Silent King.[10b]
Official languages: Necron Lexicon[4]
Major Species: Necrontyr/Necrons[3]
Canoptek Constructs[9a]
enslaved species[2d][8d]
Type of Government: Feudal dynastic monarchy[3]
Head of State: Silent King Szarekh[3]
Governing body: Triarch[3]
Awakened Council (former)[1a]
Religion(s): Solar Gods[1c], Mortuary cults[2e] and astrology[1b] (As Necrontyr)
Worship of C'tan (former)[9b]
Military forces: Tomb World forces[9a]
Triarch Praetorians[5]


The Infinite Empire, also known as the Necron Star Empire[2b], is the term given to the interstellar empire of the Necrontyr and later the Necrons.[1a] At its peak, the Infinite Empire was said to have controlled a billion worlds[1a], though currently it spans about 25% of the spatial extent of that of the Imperium[2a]. It is said to have a total population in the trillions if one includes those still slumbering.[8a]

History

The Infinite Empire was first created many millions of years ago by the Necrontyr. While short-lived and sickly, they nonetheless had tremendously advanced technology and were able to form an interstellar empire that held a significant portion of the Galaxy.[3]

It was during their military campaigns that the Necrontyr first came into contact with the Old Ones — one of the first sentient races.[4] As their empire expanded and grew more diverse, tensions between the Dynasties threatened their unity.[3] Rebellions known as the First Wars of Secession erupted as entire realms fought for independence.[3] The Triarch — the ruling council of the Necrontyr — realised that only the threat of an external enemy would bring unity once more and saw the Old Ones as the perfect subjects for the wrath of their race. Already jealous of the Old Ones' seemingly eternal life spans,[4] the Necrontyr initiated hostilities: the separatists abandoned their rebellion, and the War in Heaven began.[3]

While mighty, the Necrontyr could not match the technological might of the Old Ones and faced certain defeat. The unity of the Necrontyr began to fracture once more, resulting in the Second War of Secession. It was amidst this crisis that the Necrontyr first encountered the vampiric C'tan. Seeking the aid of these all-powerful star gods, the Necrontyr sought the favour of the C'tan and constructed bodies of living metal to contain their essence.[4] So it was that a C'tan known as the Deceiver had an audience with Szarekh the Silent King, lord of the Triarch. The C'tan offered the Silent King immortality and the power to lay low the Old Ones. Offering immortal bodies of living metal to the Necrontyr and an alliance against the Old Ones, in the subsequent Biotransference the Necrontyr abandoned their weak organic forms. The C'tan drank of the torrent of cast-off life and energy and grew stronger as Szarekh, now in a machine body himself, realised he had made a terrible mistake. The Necrontyr may now be immortal and unified, but they had lost their souls in the process; only few of the very strongest retained their intellect. Thus the soulless machines known as the Necrons were born.[3][4]

Under the control of their C'tan masters, the new mechanical legions of the Necrons were finally able to destroy the Old Ones. But in the final stages of the War in Heaven, Szarekh bided his time, waiting for the moment where the C'tan would be most vulnerable. With the Old Ones finally defeated and the C'tan now feeding on one another[4], the Silent King struck and led a Necron revolt against the arrogant C'tan. The Necrons focused the unimaginable energies of the living universe into weapons too mighty for even the C'tan to endure. The C'tan, almost impossible to destroy entirely due to their very nature, were instead shattered into shards.[3]

Even with the defeat of both the Old Ones and C'tan, the Silent King saw that the time of the Necrons was — for the moment — over. The mantle of galactic domination would soon pass to the Eldar, a creation of the Old Ones who had fought alongside them in the War in Heaven. The Necrons, weakened by the War in Heaven and the revolt against the C'tan, could not stand against them. Yet the Silent King knew that the time of the Eldar would pass, as did the time of all flesh. So it was that the Silent King ordered the remaining Necron cities to be transformed into great tomb complexes threaded with stasis-crypts. The Necrons were laid to rest, ordered to sleep for sixty million years and then reawaken, ready to rebuild all that was lost and restore the dynasties to their former glory. Yet the Silent King did not join his subjects. Destroying the command protocols by which he had controlled his people, the Silent King left the galaxy, there to find whatever measure of solace or penance he could.[3]

Over the ensuing millions of years, Tomb Worlds began to slowly reawaken. Some reawakened as far back as the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago.[8a] However, it was not a simultaneous process, and many more Tomb Worlds were devastated by accidents, interstellar anomalies, or attacks by races such as the Eldar or Orks. Most, however, awoke during the later years of M41, but even still billions of Necrons lay dormant.[3] To avoid chaos, those Necrons already reactivated and with enough cognitive senses established the Awakened Council.[1a]

Map of current Necron territory[11]

In 744.M41, the Silent King ended his self-imposed exile and returned to the galaxy after encountering the Tyranids within the intergalactic void. He discovered the Tyranids were just one of many threats facing the Necrons. Other alien races had swarmed over their Tomb Worlds and the Warp now seeped across the Galaxy. He has begun a journey across the galaxy with a band of his loyal Triarch Praetorians to reawaken Tomb Worlds that still slumber so they may unite against the Tyranids.[5]

After the formation of the Great Rift Szarekh accelerated his plans for galactic domination by creating the Pariah Nexus.[6] This has proven controversial amongst other dynasties, most notably the Sautekh and their allies. The Sautekh Phaeron, Imotekh, has launched an open revolt against the Silent King's authority as part of the greater War in the Pariah Nexus.[4]

Organisation

Organisation of a Necron Dynasty[10a]

The Infinite Empire even its heyday was highly decentralized, consisting of myriad Dynasties which swore fealty to the Triarch and its Silent King. Many of the more powerful Dynasties maintain several other client dynasties as their own vassals, further complicating the hierarchy. Being extremely traditionalist, the modern Necrons have continued to use this system and all of its rigid hierarchies. While all are technically united in the subservience to the Silent King, there is much disharmony and inter-dynastic disputes are far from unprecedented.[8a] In the absence of the Silent King after the Necron Revolt, those awakened elements loyal to him such as the Triarch Praetorians helped organise the Awakened Council in an attempt to maintain political cohesion.[1a]

The fragile political unity of the Infinite Empire has been put on full display recently with the War in the Pariah Nexus, where the powerful Sautekh Dynasty and its allies have openly revolted against the authority of the Silent King.[4]

Despite the highly xenophobic and elitist nature of the Necrons, they are still known to sometimes keep slave populations of "lesser" species on their Tomb Worlds.[2b][8d]

Military

Organisation of a Tomb World's military forces[9a]

The Necrons continue to use the same feudalistic military model of that of the Necrontyr. Each dynasty maintains its own armies' of troops commanded by its hereditary Overlords and Lords. The highest level of command is the Tesserarion, which are in turn broken up into Decurions, Legions (~100 Necrons), Cohorts (~50 Necrons), and Phalanxes (~10 Necrons) as well as its own fleet of ships. Other military sub factions also exist that any Tomb World may call upon, such as Cryptek courts, Destroyer Cults, Flayed Ones, Triarch Praetorians, etc.[8d][9a]

The Necrons wield technologies far above that of the Imperium, to the point where its prowess seems to be magic by comparison.[8b] Necron warships for example are worth many times their number of Imperial counterparts.[2d] Despite their formidable military potential, the Necrons have suffered from the many millions of years of slumbering and this has hindered their ability to dominate the galaxy once more[8a] and Necron forces tend to be smaller and more rarely encountered compared to those of other races.[2c][2d] Most of the common Necron soldierly is mindless and reliant on those still-sapient members of the nobility for even basic commands.[8c]

Sources

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