Warhammer 40K: The Old Ones & The War In Heaven
Nemesis of the Necrontyr, The Old Ones reigned supreme until the War in Heaven brought their empire crashing down.
The Old Ones were a number of ancient space-faring races who had an advanced civilization before the development of the Young Races in the current age.
The Old Ones
They are notable for being the first of all the galaxy’s sentient life as well as being the first race to cross the sea of stars, making them the oldest space-faring species in the galaxy. The Old Ones are said to have had a slow, cold-blooded wisdom, studying the stars and raising astrology and astronomy to an arcane science. It was their understanding of the universe that allowed them to manipulate alternate dimensions and it was known that they undertook great works of psychic engineering. At some unknown point, they crafted the Webway to serve as a conduit through which they could travel to far-flung worlds without suffering from the tides of the Warp.
A 40th Millennia map of the Webway’s primary nodes.
Such was their advanced science that the Old Ones had the capacity to cross vast tracts of space with a single step by way of Webway portals and through such means they managed to spread their spawn to many other places. They believed that all life was useful and they are known to have brought about the rise of numerous new species and impregnated thousands of worlds which they made their own.
Encountering the Necrontyr
As the Old Ones passed through the cosmos, a number of younger and fiercer races developed within their wake, including the Necrontyr, who struggled in their colonisation of other worlds. During this encounter, the ultra-intelligent races of mystics known as the Old Ones were seen to have swiftly colonised other worlds with far greater ease and had an immense longevity to the point of immortality. The Necrontyr are known to have petitioned the Old Ones for the secret of eternal life but they refused. This kindled a burning hatred within the Necrontyr, whose harsh sun cursed them with diseased bodies and difficulties in colonising the stars.
The Silent King, of the Neconrtyr agreed to a terrible bargain during this era.
At this time, the Necrontyr empire was suffering from the Wars of Secession with the various Dynasties battling one another. The ruling council known as the Triarch believed that an external foe would unify their species and their enmity with the Old Ones led to them declaring war upon this ancient race. The temptation of the spoils of victory along with the secrets of immortality saw the separatist kingdoms unite, bringing about a conflict that would become known as the War in Heaven. The jealousy grew, eventually leading to the ancient Necrontyr dedicating their entire civilisation single-mindedly to the goal of the extermination of the Old Ones and their spawn.
The War In Heaven
Terrible wars were known to have followed this chain of events but all ended with the Necrontyr’s inability to vanquish their foes. Despite their advanced technology, they found themselves constantly outmaneuvered by the Old Ones due to their mastery of Webway portals. Eventually, the Necrontyr were pushed back to such an extent that they were considered little more than an irritation to the Old Ones and forced back to the outer dark of the halo stars where they were forgotten. This imprisonment lasted for centuries. As they sought to find a suitable weapon to unleash against their foes, the Necrontyr began to study their sun, whereupon they discovered ancient entities that resided on them. These they made manifest and named C’tan, or star-gods in their language, and used them as their new weapon against the Old Ones. Through the C’tan, the Necrontyr were transformed into a cold machine race of beings that became known as the Necrons.
They were now free to pursue their vengeance against their ancient foes. This time, the conflict was far different from the previous wars as the Old Ones’ mastery of the Warp was now countered by the C’tan’s supremacy of the material universe. In time, the C’tan began to dominate the galaxy whilst the Old Ones’ bastions were besieged and their nurtured races were fed upon like cattle by the eternal hunger of the star-gods. Entire worlds were razed, suns extinguished and entire star systems devoured whole by the terrible C’tan.
The Nightbringer, was but one of the C’tan waging war upon the Old Ones in this era.
During the War in Heaven, Necron legions are known to have breached the Webway with newly invented Dolmen Gates and assaulted the Old Ones in every corner of the galaxy. Despite their legendary patience and implacability, the Old Ones began to grow desperate and began breeding new forms of life with an even stronger connection to the Warp, with the intention that these manipulated species would have the power to channel their psychic might to defend themselves. Many warrior races were created in this manner; it is believed that the Eldar, K’nib and Rashan ranked among their number. It took millennia before these new creations were ready and in that time, the C’tan along with their Necron armies extinguished even more life in the cosmos. According to Eldar legend, the paradise the Old Ones had created was now desecrated by the C’tan, whom the Eldar knew as the Yngir.
Creation of the Young Races
Among their creations also were early Mankind, tree beasts that were part of their ecosystem but otherwise had no greater role defined for them by the Old Ones. This was the time that the Eldar referred to as the God War, fought between the C’tan-supported Necrons and the Old Ones aided by their successor races During ancient times, the Eldar learnt a great many secrets of the Warp from the Old Ones. From this encounter, the Eldar learnt technologies that led to the eventual creation of the Webway.
The Void Dragon, one of the C’tan survivors.
By the time the Old Ones marshalled their forces, there were only four C’tan in existence, but much of life in the galaxy had already been extinguished. Eventually, the hot-blooded Young Races were unleashed, sending the Necrons reeling as the power of the Warp was an anathema to them and they struggled to contain the advance of this new offensive. In response, the C’tan unified for the first time in millions of years and began the great warding, which was to seal the Empyrean from the material universe forever, thus countering the magicks of the Old Ones.
Jokaero were one of the later Old Ones’ creations.
The Cataclysm and Aftermath
However, a seemingly unforeseen side effect of the Old Ones began to manifest in this era as the Young Races’ growing pains disturbed the Warp itself with this formless energy coalescing and older warp entities become predatory as the Empyrean began to become a more hostile environment. From cracks in reality, the denizens of the warp sought entry into the material universe which forced the Old Ones to bring about the emergence of new species to defend their last strongholds. Among their creations included the green-skinned, hardy Krork and the technology-mimicking Jokaero.
The Enslavers shattered life in the galaxy and swept away the Old Ones empire.
However, it was too late by this point with their intergalactic network being breached with their greatest works and places of power being overrun by the horrors of the warp created by their own creations. Among the most insidious of these entities were the Enslavers, who dominated the minds of the Young Races in order to create portals for more of their kind. The Enslaver Plague became the final blow for the reign of the Old Ones who scattered and forever broke their power. With the universe in ruin, the Necrons rose up in rebellion against the C’tan, shattering themf or all time, then fled into their tomb worlds to slumber for 20 million years. Time enough for life to repopulate the Galaxy. Only scant embers of myth and rumors of gods survive among the Young Races, to tell the tale of the Old Ones by the 40th Millennium.
Map of the Necron dynasties.
Learn more about the Old Ones
Lexicanum
