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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Before the Enslavers
The Nightbringer's earliest history is that of a pioneer and death bringer. Its love of pain and death is monumental, a living god of suffering and despair. When the [[Necrontyr]] first encouraged the C'tan to cross the Incorporeal Starlight Bridge into the material realm, the Nightbringer was the first to come<sup>1</sup> and the first to enter a [[living metal]] body. It was found feeding on the very star that blasted the Necrontyr.<sup>1</sup> Once it had become manifest, it soon learned that the life force of mortal lives tasted far superiour to its previous diet of star energy and with this revelation it consumed those who had brought it into the material universe. Only through pledges of loyalty could the Necrontyr convince it to stop destroying their race and concentrate in the vast expanses of the galaxy.<sup>1</sup>
This initial episode of mortal consumption led to more destruction on the behalf of the Nightbringer. At this time the Necrontyr had been waging battle against the race known as the [[Old Ones]]. They had brought the '''Star Gods''' into the mortal plain plane to help them in their war. The Nightbringer reveled in the war with the Old Ones as nothing but mortal souls could satisfy its hunger. In its desire to consume more souls the Nightbringer would lay waste to entire regions of space just to feed.<sup>1</sup> It is said that gradually, the Nightbringer fell further and further from the original design the Necrontyr had brought it into the material world for, namely the destruction of the Old Ones. It began to destroy and feed at will, and it reached into the minds of almost every race and planted its image into their deepest fears.<sup>1</sup> It is said that it nurtured entire races to fear it and it fed on that fear.<sup>1</sup>
Eventually, the Nightbringer began to feed on the other C'tan. How it was persuaded to consume other C'tan is a point of contention. One source states that it was the [[Deceiver]] that convinced it to consume the other C'tan<sup>1</sup>, but another document says that it was the [[Laughing God]] of the [[Harlequins]].<sup>1</sup> The Laughing God version is explained by the [[Eldar]] in [[The Death of Light (Harlequin Dance)]]. It was then that the C'tan began to consume one another finding that the souls of there own kind were even sweeter than the "lesser" races. However, evidently no other C'tan could match the slaughter of the Nightbringer. Soon after they began to consume one another the Old Ones mounted a desperate counter-attack and by then only four C'tan remained. It was then that the [[Enslaver Plague]] occurred and the Old Ones were ultimately defeated and passed into legend. The plague forced the C'tan into their stasis tombs to await the regeneration of the younger races with souls to consume to repopulate the galaxy. The final great plan to separate the [[warp]] and the material realm was prevented and the Nightbringer's most potent weapon was banished to the [[Immaterium]] where it could not reach it, preventing it from gathering the necessary energy to survive its long entombment.<sup>1</sup>
