The Epimetheus Subsector: “The Underworld”

The Epimetheus Subsector

The Epimetheus subsector is the domain of the Necron Empire. It is the largest subsector in the Zahirah Sector and the last subsector to be added to the Zahirah sector during its formation. It only became part of the Zahirah Sector due to the Machine War, which rages within its boundary.

History of the Epimetheus Subsector

After the Great Awakening, the noble houses of the Necron Dynasties arose fractured and with free will, which led to those remaining dynasties projecting themselves in varying directions into the uncertain future. Bitter rivalries were reignited and old trespasses were remembered across the shattered empire. Soon after the awakening began the third Wars of Secession, with some Necron dynasties readily accepting the rule of the Triarch and Szarekh the Silent King, while others rejected the ancient Necrontyr institution, regarding it as a relic of the past. Unfortunately for the seccesionists of the conflict, they were outnumbered by the loyalist dynasties and unlike the previous wars of secession that plagued the necron history, the Silent King gave no pardon. There was no mercy given to the secessionists, they were not even given the privileges reserved for honorable foe. They were regarded as vermin, and slowly eradicated from existence.

The Secessionists lacked unity in cause and that was their undoing. Each of the betrayer dynasties pursued their own goals rather than unifying under a shared banner of opposition. The most powerful and aggressive of the opposers was Imotekh the Stormlord of the Sautekh Dynasty. Referring to himself as The Necron Tyrant, the Sautekh Dynasty and the Dynasties under their subjegation committed to open war against the Silent King and loyal Dynasties.

As a brilliant strategist, Imotekh displayed the full magnitude of his eldritch cunning and tactical superiority. In the end, the Sautekh were the first Dynasty to be annihilated, destroyed by the Maynarkh Dynasty. Imotekh was destroyed by Xun’bakyr, the Mother of Oblivion herself, and his deathmask was presented to the Silent King upon the Dias of Dominion.

From there, the other betrayer dynasties were hunted down. Dynasties like the Nekthyst, the Sarnekh, and many others were wiped from the face of existence in short order.

After the Third and Final wars of secession, the remaining necron dynasties stood firmly unified beneath the Triarch and the Silent King. No command protocols were needed this time, the Phaerons of each dynasty swore loyalty directly to Szareckh himself upon their immortal lives. The scattered Necron Dynasties had finally become the unconquerable Necron Empire.

Not too long after this, an ancient enemy of the necrons arose from the Northern Rim of the Halo Stars. An Old One that had been in hiding, emerged and its presence was a Clarion call to all the species which had been created by its kind millions of years before. The Slann, a once reclusive species surviving in the shadows of isolated worlds of the Imperium, suddenly revealed their true strength and numbers in what the Imperial Scholars refered to as The Slann Uprising but which the Necrons called the Second War in Heaven. Led by the emerged Old One, the Slann, Eldar and Orks created a Hierarchical alliance. The combined forces of these species were wielded against the Necron Empire in a galaxy spanning war that was more devastating than the previous War in Heaven. Due to the presence of the Old One, the Eldar became stronger, The Orks evolved immediately into a semi-krork state and the Slanns technological innovations rivaled even those of the necrons.

The Second War in Heaven isolated entire sectors of the Imperium as a war between ancient foes raged amongst the stars. So aggressively did the forces on either side attack each other, that for a time; the Imperium of Man was completely ignored by both sides. As long as they did not engage the forces of either side, the fleets and populations of the Imperium of Man weren’t targeted as part of the conflict. So devastating was the scale of the war happening between the species that humanity avoided conflict at all costs., desperately waiting for it to end and both sides to destroy eachother in mutual isolation.

The Galaxy became split. To the west of the Sol system was the domain of the Old Ones, while the East was was the dynastic territory of the Necron Empire. The Cicatrix Maledictum served as a natural boundary between the two opposing sides, of which both sides were wary. Besides a handful of dynasties that chose to stay in enemy territory, the majority of the Dynasties consolidated their crownworlds into a singular, heavily defended system in the Eastern Fringe. The sector claimed by the Necron Empire was called the Epimetheus Subsector.

When Roboute Guilliman arose from stasis, he was enraged at the submissiveness of the Imperium in the face of such a conflict. He declared the Machine War, a war against the Necron Empire to assert the Imperiums rule over the entire galaxy. Its aim, to destroy the Silent King himself and to dismantle the Necron Empire once and for all. To this he sent the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, primarily of the Martian Cult and many firstborn chapters, most of whom had previously rejected induction of primaris into their number.

Guilliman acknowledged the other half of the conflict as well with the old ones. He declared the Truxazoic Hunt, the eradication if the Slann from the galaxy and set the desthwatch to spearheading this task.

The Profundis system is claimed by the Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood of Mars, but before that it had one Imperial held world which was Saphalon. Saphalon was ruled by Imperial Governor Longinus, who made the fatal mistake of ignoring the warnings of the Necron Empire that the world was theirs to possess. Saphalon was eventually reclaimed by the Necron Empire, it’s population harvested by the Necron Empire and the Planet itself relocated into a unknown area deeper in the Epimetheus Subsector. The Profundis System is similar to the Perdition system in that it is composed a giant weapons platforms of STC origin. Profundis also serves as the meeting system for Battlefleet Zahirah in the Epimetheus Subsector and the accompanying Astartes fleets that are conducting the Machine War besides the Mechanicus at the decree of Guilliman. It is here that the fleet amasses before heading deeper into the Subsector to battle the Necron Empire. The First System they encounter is the Techne System.

In the Epimetheus Subsector, the first line of defence of the Necron Empire is held by the Ogdobekh Dynasty, who are the wardens of the Techne System. The Techne System is composed of Weaponized planetoids that can disentegrate enemy ships in an overlapping field of fire with their devastating guass weaponry. Complementing them is the fury of the Ogdobekh Defence Fleet and necron Void assets. The combined might of these forces has created an impenetrable shield of defence which the Imperium has struggled to break through since the beginning of the Machine War.

Techne’s sun glows an eerie green, as it is being fed upon by an Enslaved C’tan. The star is also not the center of the system, because Techne is an Artificial solar system, created by the Necron Empire itself to protect the Hades system further in the Subsector. At the center of the system is the Ogdobekh Tombworld, Cyprium. The tombworld was transported from the Segmentum Pacificus to the Epimetheus Subsector at the command of the Silent King, granting the request of the Overlord Xeriphazt.

If, somehow the forces attacking the Techne system make it through the weaponized planetoids that surround Cyprium along with the powerful defending Ogdobekh Fleet, makes it to the world and through the atmospheric storm onto the surface of the planet, and somehow survives the first few minutes of being on the hazardous planet without succumbing to accelerated copper poisoning; they will then have to deal with the madness of the worlds design. Cyprium is an active warzone by itself and is something I am excited to share with you all at another time.

The Ogdobekh We’re chosen to be the first line of defence because they are the Necron dynasty I play and collect. Remember, all of this narrative is interconnected to armies I play and collect. But they were also chosen for their technical mastery which assists greatly against the Mechanicus.

The Next system over is the Kerberos system. The Kerberos System of the Epimetheus subsector is called such because between the weaponized planetoids in the system, their are at least three invisible pocket dimensions which all all lead to the Game World of the Sinoptek Dynasty.

Once a ship is sucked into the pocket dimension, there is no known way of escape. The only reason this aspect of the Kerberos system is known is because a Rogue Trader ship somehow made it through the Techne System, into the Kerberos system and was sucked into a portal leading to this pocket dimension. A century later, the Rogue trader ship was discovered floating down Perdition causeway in the Zulup Subsector. The crews dismembered skeletal remains were scattered throughout the ship and we’re recovered along with pict files taken during the expedition.

Next to nothing is known about the Hades system besides that it is where the Silent King Resides and where all but a few of the Crownworlds of the Necron Empire are stationed. Noctolith pylons stationed at the edges of the boundary make it impossible to be entered from the warp and the defences here are without a doubt the strongest the Necron Empire can muster, but the Imperium has yet to have reached this far into the Subsector.

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