Thulekh
Thulekh is a Destroyer Lord of the Suhbekhar Dynasty.[1]
Overview
Long ago, Lord Thulekh was a valued lieutenant of his Phaeron, a commander of the Suhbekhar Dynasty’s legions in whose name numerous great victories were won. Ahmontekh trusted his underling implicitly and it was generally held that he would inherit the mantle of command should death one day claim the godlike Crimson Scythe. The only foe Lord Thulekh had was one of his own royal blood, the being that would one day become master of the dynasty in all but name—Ahhotekh, now overlord-regent of the Suhbekhar. The two never openly came to blows, for the command protocols that moderated their loyalties forestalled outright violence. Instead, both maintained a relentless campaign of subversion against the other all throughout the long War in Heaven, a campaign which, thanks to his military prowess, Thulekh could be said to have won, outwardly at least. In reality, Ahhotekh’s unseen agents had, by the time the Great Sleep began, closed in around Thulekh to such an extent that even as he lay down in his stasis casket to enter the sleep of aeons, he did not even realize he had lost.[1]
Many thousands of years before the Necrons of the Hollow Sun even began to awaken, Lord Thulekh’s stasis crypt entered its revivification cycle. Upon awakening, the lord expected to be greeted by legions of servants, and to present himself at the throne of the Crimson Scythe, but it was not to be. The entire necropolis at the heart of the Hollow Sun was silent, its command program refusing or unable to acknowledge his presence. Even the Canoptek Spyders and other constructs tasked with maintaining the fabric of the crown world ignored him entirely, and no other Necron had arisen but he.[1]
Wandering the dusty labyrinths, Thulekh only slowly came to his senses, for the fugue of so long a sleep as he had endured was heavy indeed. Stumbling from one chamber to the next, his presence seemingly ignored by the crown world’s mindless custodians, something like madness descended upon him and he never fully awoke. Instead, the once noble Thulekh fell to madness, which only deepened as the days turned to weeks, then to years and then to centuries. Though none were present to witness it, Lord Thulekh had become what would later be termed a Destroyer—a Necron given over entirely to the pursuit of war as the only expression of that which had awakened from the sleep of aeons.[1]
Thulekh’s living metal body answered the call of twisted consciousness, slowly transforming itself into a form more fully suited to making war. The lower part of his body transmogrified into the distinctive anti-grav hull of a Destroyer, while his limbs melded into the weapons they bore. His senses were augmented by targeting systems that had no utility in the necropolis of the Hollow Sun, but which would serve him well out amongst the battlefields of the galaxy. His transformation into a living engine of war complete, the insane Lord Thulekh somehow found his way to the great Dolmen Gate in the Hollow Sun’s central precinct. From there, he came forth to wreak his bitter, fallen fury upon the pathetic mortal creatures that plagued the galaxy. Since that time, the Destroyer Lord has sallied forth from the Hollow Sun on numerous occasions, always returning engorged on slaughter to sleep fitfully until next his madness calls. On one occasion, he rose to discover that others had done so too, and his initial reaction was one of unthinking violence. Thulekh slaughtered hundreds of his metal kin before Ozkan the Codifier managed to override his command impulses and bring him to heel. Now, he exists in a half life of bloodshed and slumber. The overlord-regent takes great pleasure in unleashing the murderous pet that was once his princely rival and setting him forth upon the galaxy, other Destroyers at his side. Ahhotekh must exercise supreme caution in doing so, for there exists some part of Thulekh’s mind that recalls his long lost glory and hates his erstwhile rival with unimaginable intensity. To date, Thulekh’s fury has been spent upon the lesser creatures of the galaxy and occasionally on other Necron warriors, and the overlord-regent.[1]
Sources
- 1: Deathwatch: The Outer Reach pgs. 113–114
