Shadowvaults

Bits:

Millions of dead souls of the thousands of races that inhabited the Gallowdark still haunt it. They are bitter and corrupted by countless years of Warp exposure.

-Those habitations of those trapped aboard the Space Hulk are more wretched than the most pressed of Imperial worlds. Mutation is common. Psychic outbreaks kill hundreds. Almost all machine spirits have been corrupted by the Warp. Raiders from every type both human Xenos can attack at any time. Sudden radstorms are frequent, and it's possible that a hulk quake can send tons of metal crashing down upon settlements.

-Virtually all of the mutant population worship the Chaos Gods. They pray for them for more gifts and the strength to destroy their rival clans. The Navy Armsmen reached the mutant clans' territories, and it kicked up a brutal conflict and soon mutant blood flowed like rivers in the hulk's corridors and tunnels. The armsmen kicked up a nest and the resulting frenzy saw mutant clan after mutant clan pulled into the bloodshed. The strife woke up a clutch of genestealer. The Xenos slaughtered everything that crossed their path.

-The settlement of Ironshanty is a place of relative peace. It was founded by Imperial colonists whose ship was melded into the Space Hulk. The settlement survived through luck and faith. However, the descendants of these colonists had to compromise their Imperial ideals in order to survive the terrors of the Gallowdark. Notions of right and wrong barely exist as the tribal gangs rule with an iron fist. In exchange for the sanctuary they offer, Ironshanty gathered many weapons and gained protection from the warriors within the hulk. It acts as a neutral zone where both humans and Xenos can trade and find shelter. However, after the Space Hulk returned to Real Space, the settlement found itself under ceaseless attack from the Orks. In desperation, the tribal leaders are emptying their coffers to pay mercs to defend them, and the population is praying to more gods than the Emperor. It's only a matter of time before irreversible corruption sets in.

-The bravery, skill, and discipline of the Karskin are all in excess of the common Imperial soldier. Their life outside of the battlefield consists of an endless regimen of study, prayer, physical exercise, and specialist training. This honed them body and mind into warriors of peak human performance capable of reacting instinctively in virtually any combat situation.

-Though Cadia has fallen; there are billions of Cadian across the galaxy and millions of Kasrkin.

*Personal Note: Call up to the 9th ED Astra Militarum codex saying that there were 1 billion defenders on Cadia in total. This new tidbit means that the majority of Cadians were off-world during the 13th Black Crusade

-After the fall of their world, the Karskin's hatred for the forces of Chaos deepened. Other feelings took root in their hearts. A resentment for those who fought on Cadia and failed, those that abandoned Cadia when it needed them the most, and even themselves for not being there. However, not all are consumed by guilt and driven by the zealous need for redemption. Some are not burdened by the loss of their world. As far as they are concerned, the planet broke before the guard did. So as long as a single Cadian breathes and fights against the enemies of the Emperor, Cadia stands.

-An increasing number of Karskin recruits are being drawn from non-Cadians. Many Cadians see them as lesser troops for not undergoing the rigors of Cadia. So the non-Cadians have much to prove to their Cadian-born comrades. It's a mark of immense pride for a non-Cadian to earn the Caducades Sea Eagle tattoo. It's a ritually applied neck tattoo given to each Cadian after induction into the Kasrkin. It's not given lightly to external recruits.

-Shared hardships, intense training, and their faith forges bonds between the members of the Karskin Kill Teams. Usually, their humor is coarse, inspired by a shared life of pain, stress, and struggle.

-The Kasrkin Kill Team Hektor fought on Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. They were among the last to be evacuated from the shattering world. They carry the burden of loss and failure with them, believing had they fought harder, Cadia might still stand. Before serving on Cadia, Kill Team Hektor fought on Armageddon. Under the tutelage of the Ork hunters regiments, they became expert Greenskin fighters. Such was their performance against the Ork commandos that they were given a collective citation from a commander of an Ork hunter regiment. After the Fall of Cadia, the Kill team was deployed in the War of Beasts on Vigilus. The Greenskins on that world soon learned to fear the Karskin of Kill Team Hektor.

-Kasrkin Kill Team Vance are expert and highly adaptable xenos killers having honed their skills fighting the T'au and their many alien allies. They have slain the aliens of dozens of species. Their hot-shot las burned through the leathery hide of Kroot, the gelatinous bodies of the Galg, and the weak spots of Vespid chitin. Kill Team Vance earned a name for themselves in the Chalneth Expanse. They successfully rescued a captured general staff from T'au and Kroot infiltrators. They even managed to slay an Ethereal decimating T'au morale across a whole continent.

-Kasrkin Kill Team Haseed is notable for being comprised entirely of non-Cadians. The leader of the Kill Team, Sergeant Haseed, hails from Tallarn. As a result of this, the Kill Team is under scrutiny from the rest of their company, who retain Cadian blood and resent the idea of non-Cadians wearing the Cadian uniform. So far, the Kill Team has not been found wanting. They proved themselves during the Siege of the Chaos Knight World of Dharrovar. They infiltrated an enemy stronghold and slew the idolaters within. By doing so, they prevented several Chaos Knights from being repaired. The Kill Team continues its operation in the Nachmund Gauntlet and has slain countless traitors and heretics.

-Among the servants of the Crypteks are the Apprenteks. These were crypteks-in-training . As many of the Crypteks usurped their masters in the days of flesh, they were eager to suppress the will to rebel in their students. Now the Apprenteks are programmed thralls retaining some parts of their former personalities. Despite their condition, they have their individual talents and abilities. Yet to their Cryptek masters, they are nothing but tools to be used until they are of no use.

The Story:

Imperial side:

Milennia ago, there was an Inquisitor called Iyaklyta Rehnis. She believed in the existence of an ancient race that was far more powerful than the Imperium and had fought the Aeldari for dominance in the past. She believed that members of the race still lived after examining the remains of skeletal assassins. Her belief was dismissed by her peers as one of her radical claims. Her single piece of evidence to support her theory was a broken Aeldari tablet containing a fragmented script. However, her detractors dismissed the script as Xenos mythology. The dismissal of her peers drove her to prove that she was right. A Kroot contact would finally give her a chance to do just that.

-She paid the Kroot with enough arms to equip a small army in exchange for picts. The picts were of an obsidian object whose surface ran with veins that throbbed with green light. Some of the symbols on the object looked strikingly similar to those on the Aeldari tablet.

-After giving the Kroot more weapons for the location of the object, she requisitioned the elite troops of the 15th Kasrkin regiment.

-The object was held on an astroid-based pirate colony. The Inquisitor and her troops stormed the colony, and after weeks of fighting and searching, she claimed her prize. Finally, she had all the proof she needed to prove her detractors wrong. Unfortunately for her, she would not get the chance.

-Her ship with hundreds of Kasrkin aboard was lost in the Warp. The Inquisitor lost her life in the ordeal. Her name was removed from the rolls of active Ordos Xenos agents. The 15th Karskin regiment was removed from the list of deployed regiments, and their colors and number were awarded to other troops.

-In the Warp, the ship was torn apart and its confines swarmed with the Warpspawn. However, not all perished. Within sanctified chambers and even the navigator's shielded sanctum, some survived. The fragments of the ships drifted for millennia in the Warp until they were pressed into the Gallowdark.

-Time functions differently in the Warp. When the surviving Kasrkin emerged from their hiding when the Space Hulk translated into Real Space, they appeared to have aged only a few years.

-The Kasrkin survivors were scattered across the Space Hulk with no idea that others of their brethren survived. One such group belonged to Sergeant Pavlo. She realized that to escape the Space Hulk, they needed to arm themselves with as much arms and equipment as possible. After days of searching, they found an Imperial armory that was miraculously intact and not plundered. Inside the armory, the Karskin group found the object the Inquisitor was after, a device that, according to the late inquisitor, belonged to a race called the "Nekkroni" (translated from the ancient Aeldari text).

-The trooper that found the device was struck with a green light that was identical to the light emitted by the device. The trooper, then suddenly, crumbled into pieces as if he was cut in a thousand places. Pavlo immediately grabbed the device and ran. She believed that the Nekkroni were extinct. It appears that this was not the case.

Necron side:

-The device Pavlo was running away with was an Ark of Hamanet. It and others like it were stolen from a Necron tomb belonging to the small but ambitious Tsarakura dynasty. They were creations of the Cryptek Hamanet the Relentless. The Arks were crucial for the correct awakening of his dynasty and the ongoing plans of his Cryptek council known as the Concord of Technokracy. True to his title, Hamanet implacably hunted down the vermin that stole what belonged him. He reclaimed all Arks save for one. Being this close to achieving his goal, his patience was running out.

-The Ark of Hamanet aboard the Space Hulk was keyed to awaken the tomb world of Tsaremok. It was the resting place of millions of Necron warriors and warmachines. Most importantly, there were no aliens squatting on it. There would be no force to contest its awakening and incorporation into the growing dynasty. Should Hamanet be successful in reclaiming the last Ark and awakening Tsaremok he would secure a position of great power within the Concord.

-Finding the Ark aboard the Space Hulk proved to be a vexing and time-consuming affair even for one of his supreme skill and intelligence. Things got complicated further when a team of humans found the Ark by accident and fled somewhere in the Space Hulk. Hamanet supposed some positive would come out of this hunt. It would be an interesting tale to tell his peers when he returns.

-The battle of the final Ark of Hamanet was joined. A cat and mouse game within the terrifying and deadly confines of the Space Hulk. Having spent some time in the Space Hulk, the elite Karskin are more familiar with it and how to use its environments to their advantage. Hamanet, on the other hand, has the element of surprise, his genius, and superior technology.

The Tsarakura dynasty:

The small dynasty lies in the galactic west between the much larger and powerful Thokt, Sarnekh, and Ogdobekh dynasties. It contends with the ever-present danger of either being assimilated or being the center of a proxy war between the three larger dynasties. Despite it all, the Overlords of Tsarakura have the ambition of conquering all three. Unfortunately for them, they don't even truly control their own dynasty.

-The dynasty's Crypteks, by chance, have awoken before their dynastic lieges. A senior grouping of the Crypteks called the Concord of Technokracy used their skills and technologies to manipulate the stasis crypts of the dynasts to impose a total yet hidden control. Now the Overlords of the dynasty are nothing but unknowing puppets of the Crypteks.

-It's important for the Crypteks that what they did remains a secret. Driven by ancient tradition and law, the other dynasties would not accept the rule of the Crypteks over one of their fellow noble houses. The Tsarakura dynasty would be stripped of the Triarch codes of honor, and the ancient non-aggression pacts would be voided.

-The Crypteks care nothing for the honor codes except for the elements that protect them. No tactic or strategy is too underhanded for the Crypteks in pursuing their goals.

-Due to the small size of the dynasty, it has relatively small numbers of forces and resources. So often, the crypteks deploy Hierotek Circles (Necron Kill Teams) to forward their agendas. They steal technology from rival dynasties and work to cause tension and disruption among them. Their small size gives them a superb cover, for they are often underestimated by their rivals. While the larger dynasties bicker among themselves, the Tsarakura conduct their missions and expand their influence across the galaxy.

-Hierotek Circles of Tsarakura have manipulated the pirate fleets of Zapannec into attacking the Thokt, Sarnekh, and Ogdobekh dynasties. They have raided the Echoing Coil, where the Mephrit dynasty's Crypteks are constructing some of the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy. They even ventured close to the Eye of Terror to plunder ancient troves of treasure and ritual sites.

Hammnet the Relentless:

-The Cryptek is obsessed with eliminating the numerical advantage of his dynasty's rivals. Awakening another tomb is essential for this goal. For this, he needed the last Ark. It was vital to ensuring the total control of the Technokracy over the dynasty.

-During the time of flesh, Hamanet was appalled by how the Necrontyr warriors were thoughtlessly thrown to their deaths by the Overlords. This concern was not born out of altruism but of Hamanet's knowledge that such precious resources could be spent in a better way. The Cryptek dedicated his mortal life to developing technology that would restore injured warriors to frontline duty.

-When the biotransference came, he saw it as the ultimate solution to the warriors' dilemma, so he embraced it. Ever since the Cryptek spent his unliving existence on developing technologies that sped up the reanimation of his dynasty's legions. He is so seemingly obsessed with efficiency that his fellows within the Technokracy see him as quite frugal.

-Hamanet's right hand is the Immortal Despotek Thotep. Once, in the time of flesh, Thotep was just a street urchin barely surviving in the society of the Necrontyr. By chance, Hamanet stumbled on him. Impressed by the boy's tenacity, resilience, and strength, Hamanet took him in and fed him. He asked nothing in return except for the boy's loyalty. For 60 million years, Thotep has not failed his master.

-Two Immortal Guardians serve in Hamanet's Circle. Oberek and Banatur. Oberek is a sadistic torture. The Great Sleep had only deepened her need for bloodshed. Hamanet keeps her on a tight leash, only letting loose her mental restraints when he needs his enemies to suffer terrible damage. Banatur is a disciplined soldier who is utterly loyal to the dynasts. It amuses Hamanet that the Immortal is unaware he truly serves the Crypteks and not his rightful lords.

-Hamanet is assisted by an Apprentek he calls Xeoptar the Devoted. She was once an aspiring Cryptek. Hamanet tinkered with her engrams to render her under his complete control. However, somehow, she found a weakness in the engram suppression code. She is slowly unpicking it and bidding her time.