vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Titan Weapons - Titan Weapon Types: Carapace - Some Titans carry weapons high up on their carapace -- usually long range support weapons possessing the firepower to level a hab-block in moments.Concussive - Some munitions produce a concussive blast that can cause even the largest Titan to stagger.Draining - Draining weapons put a great strain on the plasma reactor of the Titan that fires them. Before attacking with a draining weapon, the Titan's reactor much be pushed. A unit that does not have a plasma reactor cannot use a draining weapon.Firestorm - Firestorm weapons unleash gouts of blazing Promethium or some other volatile fuel.Fusion - Fusion weapons generate beams of incredible heat which cause even the thickest amrour to run like wax at close quarters.Limited - Some weapons are so enormous or power-hungry that a Titan can only carry enough ammunition for a few shots.Maximal Fire - Some weapons, especially plasma weaponry, can draw additional power from the Titan's reactor to increase their destructive potential.Melee - Titans are sometimes fitted with massive Titan-scale claws, fists or chainblades, allowing the god-engine's princeps to take matters into their own hands at close quarters.Ordnance - Ordnance weapons fire high calibre explosive shells which can cause significant damage to an unshielded target.Paired - Sometimes, a Titan will carry a pair of weapons, slaved to fire together at the same target.Quake - Quake weapons strike their targets with such force that the very ground ruptures and shakes.Rapid - Rapid weapons spit an overpowering stream of shots, saturating the target with weapons fire.Rending - Rending weapons have the potential to cause horrific damage if they strike true.Shieldbane - These weapons are capable of tearing clean through even the larger void shields.Voidbreaker - Although Voidbreaker weapons are unlikely to cause any physical damage to a target, this does not matter -- their purpose is the disruption of Void Shields, pure and simple.Vortex - Vortex Weapons must use a bewildering technology to open an unstable warp rift at the target point.Warp - Warp weapons, most famously Warp Missiles, are fired in realspace but translate to the Warp for the majority of their flight, only returning to reality as they reach their target, thus avoiding any potential obstacles along the way.
Titan Weapons - Titan Armament: The weaponry carried by Titans is usually dedicated to certain tasks based on the tactical and strategic conditions.Some weapons are designed for targeting high-priority and well-armoured enemies, such as fortresses or armoured divisions, whilst others are particularly effective against legions of troops or laying down devastating artillery barrages.Titan weapons are divided into two rough categories, Scout Titan and Battle Titan weaponry.
Titan Weapons - Scout Titan Weaponry: Scout Titan Weapons are weapons normally fitted to light Titans such as the Warhound. Rarely found on the largest Titans, and usually of short range, these are designed to destroy light to medium vehicles quickly, and to deal effectively with huge masses of infantry.Inferno Cannon - An upgraded version of the flamers mounted on vehicles, the triple-barrel Inferno Cannon is immensely devastating in close quarters against infantry and light vehicles, even those hiding in cover.Plasma Blastgun - The lightest plasma-based Titan weapon, and one of the most powerful that can be mounted on the Warhound Scout Titan. Although it possesses a relatively slow rate of fire, and is of only medium ranged, the Plasma Blastgun can badly damage well-armoured vehicles, Scout Titans, and devastate infantry squads by the means of having two different modes of operation, depending upon the nature of the target: a slower, more focused full-power blast, or more rapid but less powerful shots.Turbo-Laser Destructor - The Turbo-Laser Destructor is a Titan-scale laser weapon, mainly used for anti-tank/anti-Titan support. It is very destructive compared to most vehicle and infantry-level laser weapons. More powerful than the Plasma Blastgun, as well as having a moderately longer range, this weapon is well-suited for sublimating small or heavily armored infantry units just as easily as it can pierce the thick, iron hides of all types of armoured vehicles. Although it can be fitted on a Scout Titan, the Turbo-Laser Destructor is more commonly found on the larger Battle Titans, who are much better prepared to deal with the constant threat of armoured vehicles.Vulcan Mega Bolter - The Vulcan Mega Bolter is a Titan-scale Bolter weapon, comprised of two large-calibre Gatling gun-style assemblies. Projecting a withering volley of firepower, it is able to tear through infantry and light vehicles with ease.
Titan Weapons - Specialised Titan Weaponry: Over the long centuries before the 41st Millennium, the Adeptus Mechanicus developed a large number of other weapons and add-ons for their Titans.Most of these weapons are only effective in a given situation or for a given task, hence they are seldom made part of a Titan's standard payload.
Titan Wrecker - Titan Wrecker: A Titan Wrecker is a Titan-grade antifortification and melee weapon that takes the form of a gargantuan, Titan-sized wrecking ball connected to a heavily reinforced chain and attached to a Titan's arm hardpoint. It is sheathed in a power field to ensure maximum destruction.As destructive as it is unsubtle, this massive siege weapon can turn the most strongly fortified building into rubble in a matter of moments. The Wrecker has never been favoured as a close quarters Titan weapon, for it is far too awkward and unbalancing to wield efficiently against a moving opponent, but should it connect, its tremendous power means nothing can withstand its destructive impact.
Titandeath (Novel) - Titandeath (Novel): Titandeath is the fifty-third volume in the The Horus Heresy series of novels.
Titandeath (Novel) - Synopsis: Horus' armada gathers, and he has defeated all enemies sent against him, even the Emperor's own executioner. One barrier remains before he can strike for Terra and lay waste to the Emperor's dream. The Beta-Garmon System occupies the most direct and only viable route to the Sol System and Terra. To break it, Horus assembles a war host of incredible proportions and Titans in untold numbers. To lose here is to lose the war and Horus has no intention of turning back.But the Imperium understands the importance of Beta-Garmon too. A massive army is arrayed, comprised of near numberless Imperial Army cohorts and a mustering of Titans to challenge even the martial might of the Warmaster. Titans fight against Titans as the god-machines of Loyalists and Traitors alike go to war. This conflict will be like no other before it, a world-ending battle that will determine the next phase of the war.
Titanicus (Novel) - Titanicus (Novel): Titanicus is a spin-off novel from the popular Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. Titanicus was first published in 2008.
Titanicus (Novel) - Synopsis: When the vital Forge World of Orestes comes under attack by a legion of Chaos Titans, the planet is forced to appeal for help. The Titans of Legio Invicta, although fresh from combat and in desperate need of refit and repair, respond, committing their own force of war engines to the battle. As the God-machines stride to war, the world trembles, for the devastation they unleash could destroy the very world they have pledged to save.
Titansword - Titansword: The Titansword is a relic Nemesis Force Weapon always wielded by the Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines which also serves as his badge of office.It is currently in the possession of Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo, who remains trapped in the Realm of Chaos.
Titansword - History: A relic of the earliest days of the Imperium, the Titansword has been entrusted to the Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights since records began.Stories of this Nemesis Force Sword give it many names: Mind's Edge, Foebane and Lifedrinker to name a few.Legends say the Emperor forged the blade for a favoured general during the Unification Wars on Terra, teaching him how to use his mind to trigger its terrible powers.During the Great Crusade it then passed into the hands of His champions, spilling alien blood on a hundred worlds as Mankind reclaimed the stars.When Malcador the Sigillite took the first eight Grey Knights to Titan just before the start of the Siege of Terra during the Horus Heresy, one of the relics he carried with him was rumoured to be the ancient Force Sword.Along with His pure genetic legacy and psychic power, it was one of the Emperor's gifts to the newly founded Chapter.Renamed the Titansword by Janus, the first Supreme Grand Master, the blade must be psychically attuned to each new master. Only once it is keyed to the mind of the wielder can its true killing power be called upon.The Titansword is more than a mere weapon -- it is the badge of office of the Supreme Grand Master, a potent symbol of the Chapter's sacred duty and the Emperor's fury given form.Every lord of the Chapter has been the warden of this blade, and though many have used other weapons in battle, the Titansword's keen blade has slain more foul Daemons than any other.
Tithe Grade - The Emperor's Gift: Every planet in the Imperium owes loyalty and gives tithe to the Emperor. Whether this is collected once every solar cycle or once every one hundred standard years, it is the first and most important responsibility that the Emperor demands of His subjects.Because of the importance of a planet's tithe, it has on many worlds become a sacred day known as the "Emperor's Gift." On this day when millions of tonnes of ore, precious metals or foodstuff are borne skyward, citizens look up and give thanks to their contribution to the great work that is the Imperium.It is also on this day that a world offers up newly-raised Astra Militarum regiments, fresh-faced soldiers who leave their world forever to serve the Emperor among the stars.These men and women spend the day of the Gift enjoying themselves and are refused very little by those they leave behind. In some places across the galaxy, it is considered good luck to serve such soldiers before they depart. The Gift is also a time of fierce pride amongst citizens towards their world, making it dangerous to be an off-worlder, for slandering the name of the planet during the time of the Gift is almost guaranteed to start a fight.Some have speculated that it was, in fact, not the Ecclesiarchy but the Administratum that sanctioned this holiday. After all, how else could you hope to strip a planet of its wealth and leave it feeling so good?
Tithe Grade - The Culling: In addition to military manpower, there is one more all-important part of the Imperial Tithe imposed upon every world colonised by Humanity. It is Imperial law that each Human-settled planet must keep its population free of unsanctioned psykers, though, depending on the world and the abilities they manifest, they are also known as "witches," "cultists," "mutants," "precognistics," "mindmovers," "telepaths," "pyrocasters," "projectors," "sunderers" and more.As in all aspects of Imperial governance, how this tithe is met is up to each planetary governor and therefore methods vary widely. Many choose harsh repression -- planet-wide witch-hunts, in which the undesired individuals are labelled as contagious Heretics that are dangerous to know or harbour, leaving them nowhere to hide.Other planetary governments employ even less savoury approaches. Regardless of method, when the Black Ships of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica arrive, attended by the psychic Nulls of the fierce but mute Sisters of Silence, a planet must yield up its psykers for collection so they might be assessed and dealt their fate on Terra.
Tithe Grade - Tithe Grades: The make-up of a given world's tithe payments, regardless of the size of those payments as indicated by the Tithe Grade, is determined by the section of the Administratum responsible for the overall governance of that world's sector and sub-sector of space.The known Imperial Administratum Tithe Grades are listed as follows, from highest (most tithe required) to lowest (least tithe required):Exactis Extremis - The most demanding Tithe GradeExactis ParticularExactis MedianExactis PrimaExactis SecundusExactis TertiusDecuma ExtremisDecuma ParticularDecuma PrimaDecuma SecundusDecuma TertiusSolutio ExtremisSolutio ParticularSolutio PrimaSolutio SecundusSolutio TertiusAdeptus Non or Aptus Non - No tithe required due to past events like an Exterminatus rendering the world lifeless and unproductive or because the world already provides an important service to the Imperium, such as serving as a Space Marine Chapter Homeworld or Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World.
Tliensic D'raque - Tliensic D'raque: Tliensic D'raque is the archon of the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Wraithkind. When D'raque sought to create a realm within the Webway separate from the larger Dark City of Commorragh to escape the control of Commorragh's dictatorial ruling overlord, Asdrubael Vect, Vect unleashed an unusual punishment upon D'raque and his entire kabal.
Tliensic D'raque - History: Once the rulers of the pleasure city Aur-Ilithain, one of the satellite realms of Commorragh within the Labyrinth Dimension of the Webway, the Wraithkind were extremely powerful until their archon, the Daemon-courting monomaniac Lord Tliensic D'raque, attempted to close his dark paradise off from the rest of Commorragh. By destroying the single hyperspatial bridge that led from the heart of the Dark City to the Cyclops Gate of Aur-Ilithain, D'raque announced his intention to secede from the rule of the Dark City's dictatorial overlord, Asdrubael Vect, the archon of the Kabal of the Black Heart.The very next night six secret portals suddenly opened across Aur-Ilithain, and thousands of shadow-creatures spiralled through, chanting in an eldritch tongue. Before the next dawn, Vect's ethereal allies had plunged the pleasure city and its denizens into a half-real state slightly out of phase with the rest of the Webway. The Wraithkind were forever altered, changed into night-shrouded fiends similar to Mandrakes that can only feed upon the pain and despair of others when they step out of the Webway into the material world. When they do so, the venting of their frustrations upon the "lesser races" of the galaxy is truly shocking to behold.
To Speak as One (Short Story) - To Speak as One (Short Story): To Speak as One by Guy Haley is a Warhammer 40,000 short story published in 2019 and collected in the anthology Nexus & Other Stories.
To Speak as One (Short Story) - Synopsis: The Adeptus Mechanicus are the mysterious and insular tech-savants of the Imperium of Man.  Obsessed with the sanctity and preservation of the machine, theirs is a dogma of stagnation.  But there is one among them who still pursues innovation: Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl.Cawl sends his most trusted acolytes to an Inquisitorial fortress to acquire a xenos specimen.  But when the Inquisition refuse to hand over their prisoner, the agents of Cawl are forced to take drastic action.
Toholk - Toholk: Toholk, also now known as Toholk the Blinded, is the Necron Arch-Cryptek of the Maynarkh Dynasty, and is a being of diabolical ingenuity whose particular genius lent itself to the creation of vast amounts of war machinery for his bellicose dynasty. Indeed, his designs and schematics were even distributed by the Triarch across the Necron dynasties in the past, in order to aid the Necron legions in their campaigns against the Old Ones during the War in Heaven.The Canoptek Tomb Sentinel is one such creation of his, and was one of the last he designed before the Necron race underwent the Great Sleep. Even before his transformation into a cold machine-existence, Toholk was without care for the lives his creations took, or indeed the use to which they were put -- only that each invention was a greater triumph of destruction than the last.This maxim was pushed to the extent of him testing new weapons and war machines first-hand on the battlefield as well as on captive subjects. Toholk's hubris made him many enemies both amongst rival Crypteks and among the Necron Lords of the Maynarkh Royal Court, who were jealous of his fame and notoriety. Despite this, he has survived many plots and assassination attempts made against him and prefers to trap his would-be murderers in Hyperphase Prison Matrices for later disposal or use in further weapons testing.
Toholk - History: After the fall of the Old Ones eons ago at the end of the War in Heaven, Toholk became even more disconnected from reality and shifted his research to the paths of Chronomancy, becoming obsessed with the intricacies of cause and effect, and dreamed insanely of the destruction of time himself. His masters, however, punished him for straying from the fulfilment of their desires and his "lack of foresight," and shackled and subjected him to the most grievous tortures imaginable, leaving his android form blinded and broken, and hardwiring control parameters into his mind forcing him to obey and preventing him from properly repairing his own body in punishment.The conflict between the Maynarkh mind-shackles and his own obsessive compulsions within his consciousness has further splintered the Chronomancer's mind, but this has not stopped him from creating what he considers his greatest work -- a temporal prediction and celestial scanning engine he calls the Smoking Mirror, which has served the Maynarkh Dynasty well during their recent conquests in the Orpheus Sector during the Orphean War. Toholk's process of continual refinement of this chronomantic device, however, has a far darker goal than even the cold machine intellects of the Necron Overlords of Maynarkh can guess at...Toholk now views the world through a shifting veil of temporal energy fields and the twisting skein of dimensional membranes, and can transmit his visions to the Necrons around him during battle to aid them in combat. Also, as the Arch-Cryptek of the Maynarkh Dynasty, Toholk's skill and experience in fashioning and augmenting weapons and machineries of war is unequalled.Within those devices and eternal engines he particularly favours, he has implanted temporal regenerative systems -- works of arcane science that are capable of preternatural feats of repair, with time itself seeming to reverse and restore near-wrecked war machines to a pristine state of function.
Toholk - Wargear: Necrodermis - Like all Necrons, Toholk's body is built from the self-repairing living necrodermis metal, granting him the unholy resilience common to his kind.Aeonstave - Utilised by Crypteks that are masters of Chronomancy, the crystalline sapphire head of an Aeonstave generates a kind of low-level stasis field that contains a massive chronal charge. With each blow from the Aeonstave, the energies unleashed will encapsulate and trap the Cryptek's enemy in a bubble of slow-time.Timesplinter Cloak  - The most accomplished of Chronomancers can weave together disparate strands of time, forming an unassailable shield against any attack that does not originate from the time stream corresponding to the precise moment of impact.Transdimensional Beamer - Toholk always carries a Transdimensional Beamer as a sidearm. This Necron weapon was originally designed as a convenient method of banishing unwanted debris, machinery and failed experiments from Tomb Worlds and battlefields into a pocket dimension outside of the normal space-time continuum. However, a Transdimensional Beamer can be used just as easily to exile and banish foes to a long and horrifying death from starvation in the same extra-dimensional space.
Toil - Toil: Toil is currently a Dead World that was once a Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus. In 400.M32, the Daemon Primarch Perturabo made a pact with Nurgle that saw him pervert the eight rituals of daemonic possession and turn them against the Forge World of Toil.That planet was conquered not by Perturabo's Iron Warriors, but also by the tech-priests' own machines, their trusted manufactoria and war engines becoming nightmarish cybernetic horrors that were as much daemonic flesh as metal, having become massive Daemon Engines.Waddling amongst the machine-beasts were plump, diminutive Daemons of Nurgle that cackled in viral scrap code and glowed with baleful electrical energy.Even as the guns of the Forge World's defenders focused on larger targets, these "Glitchlings" ran wild, and the assault on Toil marked their first recorded appearance to the Imperium.The Glitchlings' disruptive electrostatic aura caused cogitators, electro-lumens and Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences) to falter or go haywire. In their moment of greatest need, Toil's defenders found their weapons stuttered and flickering as the machine plague took its toll.The world eventually fell to Perturabo, its Daemon Engines producing new war materiel to further his ambitions before all life on Toil was ultimately consumed, transforming the once-thriving Forge World into a Dead World.
Tollguard - Tollguard: TollguardvectoriumDeath GuardTraitor LegionIts commander is the Chaos Lord Gothax the Morose, who is the overseer of the fortress-factory on the Plague Planet known as the Peal Yard where the tocsins of misery used by the Legion's Noxious Blightbringers are forged by Daemonic smiths.The Tollguard aid in the Peal Yard's defence and keep a watchful eye on its forge Daemons.
Tollguard - Notable Tollguard: Gothax the Morose - Gothax is a Chaos Lord of the Death Guard Traitor Legion and the commander of its Tollguard warband. He is famed within the Legion for going into battle with a retinue of seven Noxious Blightbringers.
Tollguard - Warband Colours: The Tollguard's power armour is the same as that of the Death Guard, composed of decayed and cracked plates of ceramite, though its colours are unknown.The Tollguard's Chaos Space Marines, like those of their fellow Death Guard, often wear grotesquely warped suits of antique Mark III Iron Power Armour.
Tollguard - Warband Badge: The Tollguard's warband badge is usually a modified version of the standard Mark of Nurgle, similar to that used by the rest of the Death Guard.
Tomb Blade - Tomb Blade: A Tomb Blade is an anti-gravitic Necron combination void fighter and Jetbike which uses dimensional repulsor units to operate in both the void and the atmosphere of a world. It can unleash powerful firepower upon enemy voidships, vehicles and ground forces as they corkscrew wildly through the ether. Often deployed as part of a vanguard force, the Tomb Blade's deadly speed and unpredictable nature make it a dangerous foe.
Tomb Blade - Notable Formations: Ghost Strider Phalanx – Ghost Strider Phalanxes are employed when the Necrons need to capture ground swiftly. They are most effective when fighting at full strength, where the overlapping layers of their Ghost Arks' Quantum Shielding reinforce one another in a quantum zone. Should a powerful attack be detected, the Ghost Ark's abnegation protocols seize control of one of its Tomb Blade escorts and hurl it spiralling into the path of the shot, preserving the valuable Ghost Ark from the enemy's wrath. The formation is invariably guided by a "Walker in the Ether" -- a Ghost Ark helmsman who can see pocket dimensions as clearly as he can the physical world. With suitable preparation, the Walker can breach these pocket dimensions, allowing the forces under his command to bypass any foes that stand in their path and cross the battlefield to wherever they are needed. A Ghost Strider Phalanx typically consists of one to three Ghost Arks with embarked Necron Warriors squads, and one to three Tomb Blade units.
Tomb Blade - Armament: All Necron Tomb Blades are also programmed with reanimation protocols, which allow them to repair themselves even when critically damaged. Necrodermis, the living metal that makes up Tomb Blades and all other Necron units and vehicles, enables this capacity due to its remarkable inherent regenerative properties. A Tomb Blade can be armed with any one of the following as their primary weapon:Twin-linked Tesla Carbines – Tesla Carbines unleash bolts of living lightning that crackles from foe to foe after hitting its target, charring flesh and melting armour. Tesla bolts feed off the energy released by the destruction they cause, thus making their lightning more furious with every fresh arc.Twin-linked Gauss Blasters – The same weapon as that wielded most commonly by Necron Immortals, Gauss Blasters make for a reliable weapon that is easily capable of laying waste to enemy infantry through the molecular disassembling beams they deliver; reducing flesh, armour and bone to their constituent atoms.Particle Beamers – Particle Beamers emit streams of miniscule anti-matter particles that detonate on contact with matter. They are incredibly reliable, needing only enough energy to maintain the containment field that prevents their anti-matter from detonating within the weapon's mechanisms. Particle Beamers are capable of causing small high-strength blasts amongst their target that will wound all but the hardiest of infantry.A Tomb Blade may be also be equipped with any of the following:Shadowloom – A Shadowloom is a Scarab-sized generator which can project an aura of darkness around the Tomb Blade, providing mobile cover within which the craft can disguise its approach and throw off the aim of enemies.Nebuloscope – Nebuloscopes are arcane devices which allow a Tomb Blade pilot to track his prey through seven different dimensions, allowing for far more accurate shots.Shield Vanes – Many Tomb Blades are equipped with additional armour panels called Shield Vanes, which increase their craft's durability by a small amount.
Tomb Blade - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications for this Necron unit have not been obtained or released by the Ordo Xenos.
Tomb Blade - Sources: Apocalypse: War Zone Damnos, pg. 58Black Crusade: The Tome of Fate (RPG), pg. 115Codex: Necrons (5th Edition), pp. 42, 81-82Codex: Necrons (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 44, 169Shield of Baal: Exterminatus (Campaign Supplement) (Digital Edition), pg. 171
Tomb Citadel - Tomb Citadel: A Tomb Citadel is a Necron defensive structure, a near-impregnable fortification designed to stand equally against the ravages of eternity, hostile action and deadly environments.Tomb Citadels often stand on the outermost borders of a wider tomb complex as watchtowers and outposts against attack, and indeed are often the mere tip of a Tomb World's iceberg, with the fathomless depths of the Necrons' stasis crypts, Canoptek construct foundries and endless silent galleries extending far below them.These Tomb Citadels are more than inert relics of the forgotten past, however, and are near-living war machines in their own right.Imperial battle reports record these brutal structures as rising from the earth and even appearing as if from nowhere in the midst of a Necron assault as a foothold for invading forces which, if not quickly destroyed, will form a beachhead from which the dread undying legions will pour forth.
Tomb Citadel - Anatomy of a Tomb Citadel: All Necron Tomb Citadels include a Tomb Ziggurat as part of their structure, its faces rising high above the surface of the citadel. Contained within one of the forward faces is an Eternity Gate, a dark portal that is capable of transporting Necron troops to the battlefield from elsewhere in the galaxy.Its shimmering energy field is nothing less than a captive wormhole bound into the very heart of the Monolith. With a simple mental command, the Tomb World's command algorithms can transform the Eternity Gate into a portal of exile, and those that fail to resist its pull are sucked out of reality entirely, banished forever to an extra-dimensional prison from which there can be no escape.Alternatively, the Necrons can use the Eternity Gate as a form of dimensional corridor, pulling squads of Necron troops from elsewhere on the battlefield, orbiting starships or even far-distant Tomb Worlds and deploying them to the Tomb Citadel’s location. It can also significantly boost the regenerative processes of the Necron squads that move through its transportation matrix.Each Tomb Ziggurat also incorporates a scarab hive similar to those possessed by Canoptek Spyders, which allows the structure to expend some of its energy to create Canoptek Scarab swarms. However, there is a small chance that the Citadel will drain excess energy in the production of a swarm and overload the scarab hive, leaving it inoperative until it can be repaired.Those Canoptek Scarabs that are produced will often be sent to affect repairs under the direction of the Tomb World’s main command algorithms, but can just as easily be sent to repel enemies that threaten to assault the Tomb Citadel.The Tomb Ziggurat itself is no mere inert structure however, but is also an energised dock to which a Necron Monolith or Gauss Pylon can teleport. Doing so allows the docked war machine to harness the Tomb Citadel's immense power supplies, empowering its weapon systems to a degree that, when unleashed, will annihilate anything their firepower touches.However, should the Tomb Ziggurat be destroyed by enemy fire, the docked construct will suffer dangerous energy feedback from the structure’s detonation and is likely to be severely damaged, if not destroyed outright.All Tomb Citadels also mount a Power Crucible upon their surface. Each of these large power generators and storage devices generates a defensive power field around the Tomb Citadel to protect Necron units defending it, and also amplifies nearby Necrons’ abilities for regeneration and reconstruction.Some Tomb Citadels have also been upgraded with up to two static automated gun-emplacements, which can be either twin-linked Tesla Destructors or twin-linked Gauss Exterminators.
Tomb Citadel - Tomb Fortress: As a Necron Tomb World recovers from the millennia it has spent dormant, hidden from the eyes of younger races, its various bastions and redoubts will begin to return to their former glory. Power crucibles will once again blaze with light and ziggurat portals will re-ignite, allowing the recently re-awoken warriors of the world's controlling Necron Dynasty to stand ready to repel any who would dare disturb the rise of their Necron Overlords.A Necron Tomb Fortress is one of the larger types of redoubts that can be found on those worlds once claimed by the sprawling empires of the Necron Dynasties and forms a defensive position that, when occupied by its undying masters, can resist all but the most overwhelming of attacks by the pitiful armies of the Necrons' enemies.On Eyrinyral, a world the Asuryani had long laid claim to as one of their so-called Maiden Worlds, dozens of Tomb Fortresses were suddenly revealed, lost amongst the tangled roots of ancient and towering jungle trees, as the Necron Sekhmat Dynasty woke and laid claim to their ancient domains. The Asuryani of Eyrinyral rallied quickly and moved to assault the newly awoken dynasty, hoping to overwhelm their ancient foe before they fully awoke.Their assault broke upon the Tomb Fortresses that had arisen, but the few defending Necron Warriors that had awoken were rebuilt time and time again by the resurrection amplifiers of the fortresses, while each Eldar warrior who fell was irreplaceable.Within a few solar months the Asuryani were driven from Eyrinyral as the Sekhmat Dynasty's ancient armies spilled from the Eternity Gates within the fortresses on the surface; butchering those who would dare dispute their masters’ claim to the world.On other worlds, these huge fortifications have been recorded simply appearing from nowhere; phasing into existence on worlds that have never known the Necrons’ influence, before disgorging a horde of silent metal killers from the gates mounted within their ziggurat towers. The appearance of such a mighty fortress upon a world is a promise of death for all who dwell there, as that world is now claimed as the domain of one of the many Necron Dynasties once again stretching forth their power into the galaxy.A Tomb Fortress is a large type of Necron defensive structure, and essentially consists of two smaller Tomb Citadels directly adjacent to each other to create an indomitable fortress.
Tomb Citadel - City of the Dead: The Imperial Adeptus Mechanicus survey team who first encountered one of these defensive structures named it a "City of the Dead," so grand was its design. Coming across the deserted Necron facility on an isolated world to the galactic south, the survey team did not realise its true nature; believing it to be a small self-contained xenos colony of ancient design.However, beneath its sprawling surface fortifications they found kilometres of silent, steel corridors and echoing chambers that could have held thousands of people. They came across no sign of those who might have built such a grand structure, but within solar hours members of the team began to vanish. Only once they had found the mangled bodies of the missing Explorators did they realise the danger they were in, but by then it was too late.The metal corridors and vaults began to fill with light, and the high towers shimmered as pyramidal war machines appeared atop their peaks, beams of crackling energy swatting the fleeing Adeptus Mechanicus shuttles from the sky. Astra Militarum units, assigned to investigate the team's disappearance, found an immense fortress protected by flashing wards of gauss energy, hordes of silent metal guardians and batteries of terrible weapons waiting for them; few returned to warn their masters of the fate of the Adeptus Mechanicus survey team.Since that incident, standing orders within the Astra Militarum call for the deployment of orbital strikes as the only possible counter to the appearance of these Necron monstrosities.A Tomb Fortress is a supremely massive and sprawling fortification piece, and consists of four smaller Tomb Citadels directly adjacent to each other. In this formation, the individual Tomb Citadels can network their power and amplify their abilities.With this additional power, a City of the Dead is able to project a defensive barrier formed of flickering green gauss energy -- a Gauss Bisector Field. Any trespasser or assaulting enemy foolish enough to step through the barrier is swiftly reduced to smoking chunks of flesh.Docked Monoliths may also use the City of the Dead's power grid to overload their Particle Whip weapon systems, combining their fire to form an apocalyptic barrage of energy capable of annihilating anything it hits.
Tomb Citadel - Sources: Imperial Armour Apocalypse (2013), pp. 84-89Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 16, 20-21, 47, 50, 128-129
Tomb World - Tomb World: A Tomb World is one of the worlds across the Milky Way Galaxy where the ancient and terrible xenos known as the Necrons chose to go into hibernation over 60 million standard years ago, deep beneath its surface in their specially prepared catacombs and tombs.Many Tomb Worlds are now settled planets of the Imperium of Man and their status as a Necron Tomb World remains unknown until the Necrons beneath its surface begin to awaken, much to the detriment of all life on the world. An unknown number of these planets exist across the galaxy in the 41st Millennium.Some Tomb Worlds were once the settled worlds of the ancient Necrontyr species that eventually became the cybernetic Necrons after their enslavement by the C'tan, and Necrontyr ruins are sometimes found on or beneath the surfaces of such worlds. Many Necron Tomb Worlds are now Dead Worlds, largely lifeless and barren deserts.Whether this is a result of the Necrons having cleansed all life from the world millions of years before during one of their foul "red harvests" or whether such climates were the preferred homeworlds of the Necrontyr civilisation, is unknown.Many of these worlds are often the sites of archeological expeditions carried out by Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator teams looking to uncover ancient xenos or STC technologies or Rogue Trader expeditions hoping to turn a profit from what they discover.Many of these exploratory teams are never heard from again once they begin to explore Necrontyr ruins that inevitably lead them to the tombs of the dormant Necrons that lie beneath the sands.The Necrons' underground tombs are generally quite large and cavernous, containing repair facilities that are manned by Canoptek Scarab robots that repair the Necrons that were critically damaged in recent battles.They have stasis units, in which the dormant Necrons hibernate. They also usually have a large room in which either the Necron Lord or Necron Overlord that commands the Tomb World (occasionally called a Platinum Lord or a Tomb Lord) sleep in a massive and ornate black stone sarcophagus.For many of the galaxy's myriad intelligent species, the re-emergent Necrons are but one terror amongst many in the darkness between the stars. Even within the Imperium of Man, the Necrons are only dimly understood, with just a handful of individuals aware of the true scale of the threat they represent to Mankind's dominion over the galaxy.
Tomb World - Types of Tomb Worlds: There is no such thing as a "typical" Necron Tomb World. Each answers only to the will of its noble ruler, and thus his proclivities define everything from its grand campaigns to trivialities such as architectural styles and forms of address between noble ranks. Nevertheless, there is one common cause that binds all Tomb Worlds: the rebuilding of the Necron dynasties of old, and the return of the Necrons to their rightful place of supremacy over the whole of the ignorant galaxy.The Tomb Worlds listed below represent no more than a handful of the many millions spread throughout the galaxy. Each revived world has its own idiosyncracies, and the number is ever growing.Who can say how many far-flung outposts of Humanity have their foundations set upon a planet long ago claimed by an immeasurably older civilisation, its inhabitants blissfully unaware of the slumbering horror at their planet's core. In these days of the Necrons' awakening, no world in the galaxy can truly rest easy...
Tomb World - Crownworlds: Just as Necron society is rigidly hierarchical, so too are its Tomb Worlds. The most important are the Crownworlds, oldest and proudest of all the Necron-held planets and the sites from which their dynasties and planetary clusters are governed.Crownworlds were once hubs of galactic power in the ancient days of Necron might, buttressed by tithe and tribute sent from elsewhere within the territory of their ruling dynasties.With access to such great resource-wealth, Crownworlds were able to construct the most reliable stasis-crypts for their inhabitants.As a result, Crownworld inhabitants that have weathered the slumbering millennia, without falling afoul of external circumstances, have done so in excellent condition -- though this only dampens the tragedy for the Necron race when a Crownworld is lost to galactic calamity.
Tomb World - Coreworlds: Next in importance for any Necron Dynasty are the Coreworlds, planets which together form the heart of a dynasty's interstellar territory.The rulers of Coreworlds would inevitably be the close kin to the regent of their dynasty's Crownworld, ensuring a bond of dynastic loyalty endured between the often diverse planets.Though neither so majestic nor so mighty as Crownworlds, the Coreworlds were great powers to be reckoned with in their heyday and, barring disaster, are so again in the late 41st Millennium.
Tomb World - Fringeworlds: Finally, Necron Fringeworlds are planets of tertiary importance to their ruling dynasty, not viewed as being of high-enough status to be numbered amongst a dynasty's Coreworlds.Fringeworlds were often poor or distant colonies of a dynasty, able to contribute to the wider realm only in terms of manual labour or as a location for penal institutions.Some Fringeworlds will once have counted amongst the Coreworlds of a different dynasty, but have since been conquered or otherwise subsumed into the dominion of their current ruler, thus descending in status.
Tomb World - Nodal Command: Necron Tomb Worlds appear to have no permanent organisation or command structure, nor is the interaction of the various forces altogether clear to the savants of the Imperium. The Necrons' form of warfare could best be described as a continuous process of causality, as each battle, campaign and Harvest produces preordained responses from the controlling program of the Tomb World.This evolving structure is made possible by a system similar to that used in the most complex assemblies of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which is known as Nodal Command. Nodal Command organisation allocates a strict hierarchy to all of the elements within it. This system grants greater operational and decision-making capacity to certain "nodes" whilst slaving the rest of the system to these nodes' autonomous command decisions.Necron Overlords and Necron Lords form the nodes of the command structure, allowing each lord an allocated hierarchical value at any given time. Though the Adeptus Mechanicus can only guess at how this Nodal Command system truly operates, they have determined that there are at least four levels of hierarchy within the Nodal Command, which the Tech-priests have designated Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels, in ascending order of command priority.The Nodal Command system is also a communications structure and forms the basis for how intelligence information is gathered and orders issued to the necessary Necron units. The system is often likened to the ancient flow charts once used to design Cogitator algorithms during the Dark Age of Technology.The decisions taken by a higher-level Necron Lord (such as a Gold-level), give a single, quick response. All relevant data and orders are then automatically disseminated to any subservient lords -- the Silver- and Bronze-level lords slaved to the Gold-level commander. In situations where speed is less important than processing all of the relevant information, decision-making defers across several Bronze - or Silver-level lords, and can even devolve down to the individual Necron Warriors at specific times during combat.This system allows for a great deal of coordination when required, but also still leaves room for independent action by distant combat groups should the need arise. A Platinum-level Necron Lord, also known as a Necron Overlord, has not yet been encountered by Imperial forces. Savant speculation indicates that this level of Necron Lord would command massive Necron fleets intended to harvest entire swathes of the galaxy. Such a Necron force might prove unstoppable.
Tomb World - Escalation: After multiple encounters with the Necrons, it has become obvious to Imperial savants that as a conflict worsens, a Tomb World will temporarily withdraw its existing forces from combat before releasing a new, more potent army led by an extended Nodal Command.Essentially, the more a foe escalates its response to Necron forces, the more devastating will become the Necron offensive. In most situations, only a few Necron Warriors and specialist support units like Destroyers or Wraiths are deployed to defeat an emerging threat.But as resistance grows, so does the strength of the forces that will be released by the Tomb World's autonomic systems to the Nodal Command structure for use by the commanding Necron Lord or Lords.Combat escalation with the Necrons of a specific Tomb World will grow in this exponential fashion until the forces that are capable of being deployed by the Necrons represent a level of destructive power that can surpass that of any other enemy Mankind has ever faced, including the Tyranids and the forces of Chaos. Seemingly endless ranks of Necron Warriors will be transported into combat by armadas of newly-awakened Monoliths, while Immortals and Destroyers by the hundreds will be released in relentless waves against enemy troops.Scores of horrific Flayed Ones and Wraiths will terrorise civilian populations and destroy morale behind the front lines. It is believed by many Imperial savants that some Tomb Worlds still maintain a wide variety of units more powerful and destructive than the massed phalanxes of Necron Warriors and Monoliths that have been encountered by the defenders of the Imperium to date.All that is required for these unseen units to be committed to the fight is for the combat to escalate to a level that has not yet been attained. The mind reels from imagining what kinds of horrific machines the Necrons may yet unleash upon an unsuspecting galaxy when this unknown line is finally crossed in the not-too-distant future.The Dead Worlds that have been found close to many present Tomb Worlds scoured of all life are perhaps testaments to the true fate of those who oppose the undying Necrons.
Tome Keepers - Tome Keepers: The Tome Keepers are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter and successor of the Ultramarines, raised during the 4th Founding shortly after 546.M32. They call the Desert World of Istrouma in the Segmentum Pacificus home.With tactical precision and fearless resolve do the Tome Keepers wage war on the enemies of the Imperium. They fight not just with sacred bolter and honoured blade, but with the accumulated knowledge of aeons etched in their minds, for they believe that only through truth and understanding can they finally defeat Humanity's many foes.Every battle is meticulously planned, every foe tactically analysed and every ally carefully scrutinised to ensure that victory is achieved in the most efficient manner possible.Then, when the battle is won and the fallen counted, all is recorded once again, the better to serve the Tome Keepers in their next war.
Tome Keepers - Chapter History: The origins of the Tome Keepers harken back to the tumultuous middle centuries of the 32nd Millennium, following the disastrous events of the War of the Beast, when the Imperium was nearly brought to its knees by the largest Ork WAAAGH! seen by Mankind since the Ullanor Crusade during the Great Crusade.Soon after the great conflict with the xenos ended in 546.M32, following a period of mandatory gene-tithing by the surviving Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes to help rebuild the stores of gene-seed kept by the Adeptus Mechanicus, the 4th Founding was raised.For nearly a standard century, the Imperium had descended into a period of anarchy and infighting. The newly created Chapters of this Founding were raised to help restore order to an Imperium rife with civil upheaval and insurrection. Gene-seed was taken out of cryo-storage and new samples received from all of the extant Chapters. It was from the Ultramarines' gene-stock that Chapter 281 -- later to be known as the Tome Keepers -- was born.As with most newly-created Chapters, officers and specialists were requisitioned from the parent Chapter. Captain Caelus Viator, formerly of the Ultramarines 2nd Company, was elevated to the rank of Chapter Master and oversaw the creation and training of four hundred battle-brothers over the following two solar decades.The new Chapter's training ground would be that of Dornak IV, a barren Death World in the Segmentum Solar. The aspirants were subjected to standard years of harsh physical training, psycho-indoctrination, genetic alteration and painful surgical enhancements before they were ready to become transhuman warriors of the Adeptus Astartes. Several hundred passed the gruelling tests. Many thousands did not.As Viator's forces came to battlefield readiness, the Chapter's assets were also assigned. Battle barges and strike cruisers arrived from far Macragge, along with armoured vehicles, aircraft, Drop Pods, Dreadnought chassis and twenty venerated suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour.Accompanying these war assets were thousands of Chapter serfs -- logisticians, tech-savants, ship crews, medicae personnel, fabricators, artificers, artisans, requisitioners, architects, servitors and countless others. Supplies were accumulated from planetary tithes, ammunition was allocated, litanies were recited, and Machine Spirits were appeased.In the year 567.M32, Chapter 281 was declared ready to serve the Emperor.