Around sixty million years before the first lifeforms would ever call themselves human, the galaxy looked very different from the Grim Dark Future known to the Imperium of Man. Humanity did not yet exist, and most of the familiar factions of the later era had not yet risen to prominence; however, that didn't mean that the galaxy was any less grim and dark. The galaxy was dominated by ancient civilisations whose conflicts were already shaping the future of the entire universe.
This colossal struggle would be remembered as the War in Heaven.
At the height of this ancient age stood the ancient race commonly called the Old Ones, one of the earliest and most advanced civilisations to ever exist, even by future standards. The Old Ones were masters of both science and the mysterious psychic dimension known as the Immaterium or Warp.
Rather than conquering the galaxy through brute force, they preferred to guide and shape life itself. Using incredibly advanced genetic technologies, they seeded and engineered countless species across the stars. They also created the Webway, a vast network of extra-dimensional pathways that enabled near-instant travel between the galaxy's most distant regions. Through these achievements, the Old Ones maintained a dominant and relatively stable galactic order for millions, if not billions, of years.
However, another species lived in the galaxy whose fate could not have been more different. These were the Necrontyr.
The Necrontyr evolved on a harsh world orbiting a deadly, radiation-filled star. Because of this environment, they suffered from constant cancers and extremely short lifespans. Their society became rigid, hierarchical, and deeply obsessed with death and legacy. While technologically advanced, they were bitter and jealous of the Old Ones, whose mastery of biology and apparent longevity seemed like a cruel contrast to the Necrontyr's fragile existence.
At some point, the Necrontyr approached the Old Ones and sought their help. They hoped the ancient masters of life might cure their genetic weaknesses and grant them immortality, just as they enjoyed. The Old Ones, however, refused. Whether they truly lacked the means to help or simply chose not to intervene is unknown, but the Necrontyr interpreted the refusal as arrogance and indifference.
Resentment, jealousy, and frustration grew into hatred, and eventually this hatred ignited a galaxy-wide war.
The first conflict between the Necrontyr and the Old Ones ended poorly for the Necrontyr. Though the Necrontyr were by no means slouches and had superior technology in some cases, the Old Ones possessed superior means of transportation through their mastery of the Warp and the immense strategic advantage of the Webway network. War was a rather easy endeavour when a species capable of faster-than-light travel fought against one that did not have that.
The Necrontyr could not match them and were driven to the brink of extinction, pushed back to their homeworlds. Desperate to find a way to overcome their enemies, they searched the depths of the cosmos for any power that might change the balance.
In their search, they came into contact with something extraordinary: ancient energy-based entities of immense scale and power, whom the Necrontyr simply called the C'tan, meaning the Star Gods. These beings were living concentrations of cosmic energy that existed within stars, feeding on stellar energy to fuel themselves and grow more powerful and command even greater authority over the laws of physics.
The Necrontyr developed bodies of living metal called necrodermis to give the C'tan a physical form in the material universe. Once awakened and embodied, the C'tan proved unimaginably powerful and knowledgeable.
The C'tan offered the Necrontyr what they had always desired: freedom from their weak, dying bodies. Immortality, their heart's desire.
Through a process known as biotransference, the Necrontyr entered monstrous furnaces and, knowing this, sold their souls. They had their minds transferred into immortal metal forms. In doing so, they became the Necrons. However, the bargain proved to be a terrible deception.
Biotransference was a double-edged sword. During the process, the C'tan consumed the souls of the Necrontyr, while turning their minds into the most complex algorithms and code and had them settle into their new bodies. Most of the transformed population became little more than obedient mechanical soldiers, while only the ruling nobles retained significant portions of their minds, but not their freedom.
The C'tan had turned them all into slaves for them to order around as they pleased.
With their new immortal armies and the godlike C'tan at their side, the now newly named Necrons returned to war against the Old Ones. What followed was the second iteration of the War in Heaven, a conflict fought across the entire galaxy. The Necrons wielded terrifying, reality-warping technologies capable of destroying planets, solar systems, and even entire galactic sectors, and of manipulating the fundamental laws of reality. Even the mighty scientists who previously stood at the apex of the galaxy, the Old Ones, began to struggle and fear this new enemy.
In response, the Old Ones turned to the strategy they knew best: the creation of new life. They engineered powerful psychic species with even greater psychic potential, who could use the Immaterium to fight even better than the engineers. This species was designed to serve as soldiers in the war against the dead machines and their C'tan Masters.
Among these were the Aeldari, a highly intelligent, extremely emotional and immensely powerful psychic race. But they weren't the only ones. There were many more among them, the brutal Krorks, the ancient ancestors of the Orks, whom humanity will come to know and love.
These new races fought fiercely on behalf of their creators, and the war spread across countless star systems. However, saying that they fought on behalf of the Old Ones is not really correct. The Aeldari were encouraged by the Old Ones to develop their society and, most importantly, their psychic might and potential to fight off on their own. The Old Ones knew that forcing the Aeldari wouldn't be as good as them fighting because they wanted to.
And no one, not even the Old Ones, could actively control the Krorks. They did whatever they wanted, and that was to wage glorious war with endless amounts of damage and weapons. It was their way of life, the 'Way of Dakka'.
The scale of the conflict was so vast that it began to damage the very fabric of reality. The Warp, once relatively calm and a neutral space from which souls originated, became increasingly unstable due to the immense suffering and psychic turmoil caused by the war. The Immaterium was, in essence, a mirror of the material universe, which was understandably in great turmoil.
This instability eventually triggered catastrophic phenomena, such as the Enslaver Plague, a terrible race of psychic denizens that consumed the minds of living organisms, especially powerful psykers with a strong connection to the Warp. Those who had their minds consumed were turned into slaves and abominations for the Enslavers, who could use them to create flesh portals and enter realspace, spreading their control and launching an invasion that devastated entire civilisations and further weakened the Old Ones.
It was a catastrophe of a galactic scale, because the Aeldari, the most potent counterforce of the Necrons, were such strong psychics.
As the war drags on, the Old Ones are gradually driven toward extinction.
By this point, the galaxy had been utterly devastated. Entire civilisations were gone, and the Warp had become a far more dangerous and chaotic realm. The only saving grace, as morbidly ironic as that is, is that the C'tan are hungry for souls and consume them as much as they can. This prevents them from moving into the Immaterium and further affecting the dimension.
The Aeldari, on the other hand, have started to develop ways to come back to life and move their souls to new bodies, so they also deny the Immaterium more souls. But that wasn't always this way. There were billions, trillions of deaths and the Immaterium had already changed; the question was not if, but when something terrible would happen.
.
Deep within the Webway, in a hidden location that would later be known as Commorragh, a large caste of Old Ones was working on their latest and most likely last project. This was going to be their most glorious, amazing and unbelievable creation ever.
A culmination of what the smartest and most brilliant species could create if they pooled their efforts and worked on one single goal. The preservation of their species and reality as they knew it.
Ham'ron'erekulu was the master behind the experiment. Among the Old Ones, he had always been one who suggested the most outrageous experiments and projects possible. No one was willing to help him, since his ideas were usually 'heretical' and against the value of life, which the Old Ones used to value above all else. It went so far that they stripped Ham'ron'erekulu of his right to use the Immaterium. This was a fate worse than death or imprisonment, as it was scientific torture for an Old One.
But now, the situation in the galaxy had turned so bad that the Old Ones were willing to try anything, no matter how 'heretical' it may have been previously.
And Ham'ron'erekulu felt as though he was in heaven. He was, of course, aware that the galaxy was burning and life was hanging by a thread. But he didn't care. The other Old Ones, the high mind, as the leading class and most venerated members were called, had come to him to ask for help. They were willing to do anything to survive this war. And he was going to make use of it.
Ham'ron'erekulu had long prepared for the experiment they were going through. He had thought about it for millions of years, that he had been tortured by the 'Immaterium Cutter', a specially designed helmet that cut off the connection to the Immaterium for an individual. And the project was so outrageous, he almost went mad thinking about it.
"Ham'ron'erekulu, where have you placed the spirit-connecting matrices, to hold our souls from bursting and dissolving?" another member of the Old Ones asked.
"I already took care of this problem. With the new integration modules, there is no need for them. Don't worry, I already planned this and took care of all safety measures," Ham'ron'erekulu said.
"And how have you taken care of it? What are the life-loving aspects?" the Old One asked.
The life-loving aspect was another way of saying the safety measures. The species loved life more than anything, so it was natural that they would want to ensure their safety. But Ham'ron'erekulu was not in the mood to explain, and they had little time.
"Don't question the waves of my intellectual ocean, for it was I who dove deep into the complexities of science and life to create this process."
The two ancients looked at one another with disdain. This way of doing things was so unscientific that it made the Old Ones sick. But they were short on time, and with the Webway gates no longer as safe as they had hoped, things were truly bad for them.
"All injustice to the Burning One and his shackled unfeelings!" The Old One cursed.
Nyadra'zatha, also known as the Burning One, was a C'tan.
Nyadra'zatha was a scientist among the C'tan and, as his name suggested, loved using fire to destroy all the scientific creations of the Old Ones. He saw himself as the antagonist of the Old Ones, seeking to prove his superiority in science and in his understanding of the laws of reality.
It was The Burning One who revealed to the Necrons how to access the Webway using a technology called the Dolmen Gates, because it desired to bring its eldritch flames to the Webway. Nyadra'zatha was known as one of the cruellest C'tan, taking glee in burning all things, and creating a way into the Webway was his most prized creation.
"There is no flow of things to slip through our grasp now. Should the Burning One arrive with his army of unfeelings, we will have failed. Ham'ron'erekulu does not know failure."
"Our brother has grasped the wave of enlightenment. Allow us to return to calm waters and continue with the final step," another Old One tried to mitigate the fight between Ham'ron'erekulu and the others.
After coming to an accord, the Old Ones finally relented to the terrible 'unscientific' way the project was going and prepared for the final part. Ham'ron'erekulu had revealed that the 'object' they were creating was now almost complete and only needed one final 'ingredient'. And that was the mental power and collective psychic power of all the remaining Old Ones to jumpstart the life.
Thousands of Old Ones were present for this final moment. But not only that, but there were also thousands of Krorks and Aeldari, as well as other specimens of the Old Ones' creations, which had been brought here against their will. These specimens were to be sacrificed for the ritual that the Old Ones were going to perform. A ritual to give life to the brain child, Ham'ron'erekulu, had thought of. Quite literally.
That was how far the once great race of ancients had fallen.
Ham'ron'erekulu got into position, having finished drawing the runes on the ground and the walls with blood and psychic energy. Swathes of souls had been used for this very moment. Then, it all started.
A humm travelled through the Immaterium, and a thin psychic threat connected all the Old Ones together, travelling from one soul to the other and, after touching each one, moving to the centre, where the container with what looked like a brain was located.
The hum intensified, and the runes on the walls and ground shone with power.
"AAAHHHHHH!!" "NNOOWOWOSDDOOOKKK"
Terrible screams of pain could be heard as the souls of thousands of Aeldari, Krorks and other species were ripped out and gathered above the brain in the middle. But this was not the ritual's true purpose. And the terrible truth came to light at that very moment.
"Wha... WHAT IS THIS?! Ham'ron'erekulu!!!"
The Old Ones felt great terror and fear at what was happening. Ham'ron'erekulu had lied to all of them. The ritual he had designed was not intended to use the souls of lesser species to create life in the brain. It was merely used as a jump-start to connect the souls of the Old Ones, then ripped from their bodies and fused with the brain, granting it life.
"You should not have tortured me with Immaterium Cutter," Ham'ron'erekulu said with hatred.
Ham'ron'erekulu had never let go of his hatred for the rest of his species and used this chance to pay them all back. He designed the ritual to suck all of their energy and souls out of them. He had become that petty.
.
The Old Ones' bodies withered away as their souls flowed into the brain matter in the middle, finally jumpstarting the process and giving it life. The culmination of all that energy sent a wave of power through the Webway, weakening the walls towards realspace and the Warp.
Ham'ron'erekulu cackled with glee and happiness, seeing his creation coming to life and feeling the sheer power it possessed. The idea he had when creating this 'brain' was to use the best of all the species he knew.
The mental power and powerful souls of the Aeldari, as well as their deep connection to the Immaterium, the intellect and powerful souls of the Old Ones, and finally, what interested him the most, the power of the Krorks.
The Krorks were a very interesting species and one of the most impressive applications of biological and spiritual engineering that the universe had ever seen. What made the Krorks so special was their Waaagh! Energy.
A gathering of Krorks generated a psychic field known as the Waaagh! Energy, which allowed the Krorks to instinctively recognise who is "more powerful and bigger" and therefore in charge. Waaagh! Energy was interesting in that it was more or less a culmination of fighting spirit and, combined with the Krorks' inherent powers, allowed them to turn their 'beliefs' into reality.
And that's what this ritual was all about for Ham'ron'erekulu. To create a being that could use the power of imagination to shape reality around it.
Imagination was one of the most powerful things to wield and use in existence. And now, Ham'ron'erekulu had succeeded.
"Glorious..." Ham'ron'erekulu whispered.
Suddenly, a powerful shockwave travelled through the Webway, causing the walls of it to shudder and shake everyone and everything inside. A wave of heat permeated the endless space and alerted Ham'ron'erekulu to the arrival of the Old One's arch-nemesis.
The Burning One had arrived, and with him an army of Necrons.
A large circle of burning fire appeared on the inside of the Webway gate, and a Dolmen Gate was created. Dolmen Gates were living stone portals used by the Necron race that function by tapping into the Webway.
Their nature made them both unstable and uncontrollable compared to natural entry points into the Webway. In an unknown way, the Webway even detected breaches into itself by the Dolmen Gates and moved to seal off the infected spur until the danger posed by it passed. Thus, any Necron entry into the Webway must move quickly to reach its destination, otherwise the network itself would bring about its destruction.
But the Burning One was willing to risk this right now, as long as he could destroy more Old Ones. And destruction did indeed follow the invasion.
An entire Necron Dynasty, followed by their C'tan master, the Burning One, marched forward, destroying everything in sight. The green glow of Gauss weapons lit up the Webway, and all the unbelievably advanced Necron technology was pushed to its limits.
Necron Warriors, the basic infantry of the Necron legion, moved slowly but relentlessly, wielding Gauss Flayers and flooding the large Old Ones' space ships. Together and behind them, followed the Necron Immortals.
Immortals were the shock troops of the Necron armies. They were some of the front-line troops. They had wider torso armour and heavier weapons than the Necron Warriors, such as Gauss Blasters and Tesla Carbines.
Apart from that, there were also Canoptek constructs like Canoptek Spyders, Reanimators and Doomstalkers. It was pure chaos.
Ham'ron'erekulu used his technology and his psychic powers to crush swathes of Necron Warriors and Immortals who continued to attack him. No matter how many he killed or destroyed, they simply teleported back to the tombs and returned. Ham'ron'erekulu used all of his power to clear the laboratory he was in right now and sealed the chamber fully, using the artificial intelligence they had on the ship.
The thick blast doors closed, leaving Ham'ron'erekulu alone with his creation. Using mental commands, several Wraithbone arms rose from the walls and connected to the brain and Ham'ron'erekulu himself. He hurried, wanting to implant his mind into the brain and use it to survive and rise above his species' current limits. He had long planned to do this, as it would make him stand above the other weapons the Old Ones created for the Aeldari, which had grown more powerful and become gods.
This would make him basically omnipotent.
He allowed his consciousness to flow through the Wraithbone 'nervous system' he had created for this, trying to speed up the process. All of his knowledge and the information he had stolen from the other Old Ones' archives had to be downloaded as well, since Ham'ron'erekulu knew that the Necrons would destroy everything.
Suddenly, the blast door was blasted open, and Necron Warriors appeared, followed by Necron Immortals. They didn't even think about it before they started firing.
"NOOO---"
Dozens of Gauss blasts and living lightning shots from the Tesla Carbines impacted his body, destroying it. But it didn't matter; he forcefully pushed his mind through the Wraithbone connectors and hurried along into the brain.
...
When he arrived there, however, he was suddenly met with a pressure he had never experienced in the millions of years of his life. Feeling that Ham'ron'erekulu wanted to take over, the newly born consciousness halted the process and attacked him, stabbing his soul.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo....'
The last pieces of Ham'ron'erekulu's mind were shattered, purified and then absorbed, never to return.
The Necrons walked through the laboratory, looking for any biological life. One Necron Immortal walked past the brain in the middle of the room and paused. He turned his head towards the brain and lifted his Tesla Carbine, pointing it at the brain.
...
For a moment, nothing happened.
...
Then, the Necron Immortal lowered the Tesla Carbine again and reached out, taking the brain into his necrodermis hand. He stared at the brain as if he were in a trance.
Suddenly, the brain shimmered and disappeared in a flash, leaving the Necron Immortal alone. He turned around, looking around the room. He didn't find it, however, so he walked out. Before he crossed the threshold of the room, he staggered and almost fell to the ground.
The light in his eyes flickered a few times as his body froze. Then, after a few flickers, the Necron Immortal continued walking, as if nothing had happened.