59,334
edits
Changes
From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
m
no edit summary
[[Image:Exodite Old Ones.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Eldar]] [[Exodite]] carving speculated to depict ancient creators with the various species they created.{{Fn|8}}]]
The '''Old Ones''' were an ancient, space-faring , reptilian{{Fn|7}} race who had an advanced civilisation before the development of the Young Races in the current age. They are notable for being the first of all the [[Galaxy]]'s sentient life{{Fn|6a}} as well as being the first race to cross the sea of stars, making them the oldest space-faring species in the Galaxy.{{CME}}
==History==
[[Image:GalaxyPic.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A distant view of the Galaxy{{Fn|7c}}]]
The Old Ones are said to have had a slow, cold-blooded wisdom, studying the stars and raising astrology and astronomy to an arcane science. It was their understanding of the universe that allowed them to manipulate alternate dimensions and it was known that they undertook great works of psychic engineering.{{Fn|1b}} At some unknown point, they crafted the [[Webway]] to serve as a conduit through which they could travel to far-flung worlds without suffering from the tides of the [[Warp]].{{Fn|4}} Such was their advanced science that they had the capacity to cross vast tracts of space with a single step by way of Webway portals and through such means they managed to spread their spawn to many other places. {{CME}}
The Old Ones believed that all life was useful and they are known to have brought about the rise of numerous new species and impregnated thousands of worlds which they made their own.{{Fn|1b}} The Old Slann believed that the object of life itself was to perfect their mortal souls, and learned that if an individual's mind was sufficiently powerful that it would remain whole within the [[Warp]] after death where it could reincarnate as it wished, provided they were able to resist the deseased diseased consciousnesses of the [[Chaos|Powers of Chaos]] which could consume their identity.{{Fn|11}}
As the Old Ones passed through the cosmos, a number of younger and fiercer races developed within their wake, including the [[Necrontyr]], who struggled in their colonisation of other worlds. During this encounter, the ultra-intelligent races of mystics known as the Old Ones were seen to have swiftly colonised other worlds with far greater ease and had an immense longevity to the point of immortality.{{Fn|1b}}
During the war, Necron legions are known to have breached the Webway and assaulted the Old Ones in every corner of the Galaxy.{{Fn|6a}} Despite their legendary patience and implacability, the Old Ones began to grow desperate and began breeding new forms of life with an even stronger connection to the Warp, with the intention that these manipulated species would have the power to channel their psychic might to defend themselves. Many warrior races were created in this manner; it is believed that the [[Eldar]], [[K'nib]] and [[Rashan]] ranked among their number. It took millennia before these new creations were ready and in that time, the C'tan along with their Necron armies extinguished even more life in the cosmos.{{Fn|1b}}
The Eldar were their greatest students, learning to master the [[Webway]]{{Fn|2}} and developing the ability to themselves achieve perfect minds and achieve immortality within the warp: the Eldar were unafraid to die.{{Fn|11}} According to Eldar legend, the paradise the Old Ones had created was now desecrated by the C'tan, whom the Eldar knew as the ''Yngir''.{{Fn|1d}} Among their creations also were early [[Human|Mankind]], tree beasts that were part of their ecosystem but otherwise had no greater role defined for them by the Old Ones.{{Fn|1a}} This was the time that the Eldar referred to as the God War, fought between the C'tan-supported Necrons and the Old Ones aided by their successor races.{{Fn|1a}}
By the time the Old Ones marshalled their forces, there were only four C'tan in existence, but much of life in the Galaxy had already been extinguished.{{Fn|1d}} Eventually, the hot-blooded Young Races were unleashed, sending the Necrons reeling as the power of the Warp was an anathema to them and they struggled to contain the advance of this new offensive. In response, the C'tan unified for the first time in millions of years and began the great warding, which was to seal the Empyrean from the material universe forever, thus countering the magicks of the Old Ones.{{Fn|1c}}
*[[Brain Boyz]]
*[[Blackstone Fortress]]
* [[lex_en_whfb:Old_Ones|Old Ones in the World of Legend]]* [https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Old_Ones Old Ones in the Mortal Realms]
==Sources==
**{{Endn|1a}}: pg. 9
**{{Endn|1b}}: pg. 24
**{{Endn|1c}}: pgpgs. 25-26
**{{Endn|1d}}: pg. 31
**{{Endn|1e}}: pg. 61
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Codex: Eldar (4th Edition)]], pg. 12
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Codex: Chaos Daemons (4th Edition)]], pg. 18
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition)]], pg . 8*{{Endn|5}}: [[Eldar Prophecy (Novel)]], pg. 151{{CME}}
*6: [[Codex: Necrons (5th Edition)]]:
**{{Endn|6a}}: pgs. 6-7
**{{Endn|6b}}: pg. 59
*{{Endn|7}}: [[The Infinite and the Divine (Novel)]] , Chapter 3
*{{Endn|8}}: [[Xenology (Background Book)]], pg. 87
*{{Endn|9}}: [[Warhammer Monthly 65]], ''Kal Jerico in Above & Beyond, Part 6''
*{{Endn|10}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition Rulebook]], pg. 139
*{{Endn|11}}: [[Codex Titanicus (1st editionEdition)]], pg. 49
===Uncited===
{{Uncited}}
*[[Liber Chaotica]]
[[Category:Extinct Species]]
