Warhammer 40K: Illuminor Szeras – The Necron’s Ultimate Cryptek
Illuminor Szeras went from a minor character to a bigger player in the Necron army. But who is this Cryptek?
With the recent points update targeting Necrons and Illuminor Szeras, we figured it was a good time to check out the lore of this fancy lad. What makes Szeras so special, and why did he get updated in Psychic Awakening when the Necrons are notoriously anti-psychic? Let’s see if we can find out.
Illuminor Szeras is a Necron Cryptek. While the C’tan might have provided the knowledge for the biotransference, it was Szeras who made it a reality millions of years ago. He saw it as the first step on the path to ultimate evolution.
Szeras constantly labors to unravel the mysteries of life, for he fears that he would be a poor god without the secrets of life at his fingertips. As such, he requires a constant flow of living subjects for brutal experimentation and agonizing testing in his scientific quests. He acquires experimental subjects by raiding the worlds of the younger races.
However, above all else, he cherishes Eldar subjects, as they inevitably produce more intriguing results than any other of the galaxy‘s living creatures. Though he is obsessed with the secrets of life, his aptitude for augmenting the weaponry and mechanical bodies of other Necrons is peerless. As a result, his talents are in high demand by other Necron Overlords. Such is the demand for Szeras that he can name his own price – invariably a harvesting raid of a world of his choosing. Above all, he covets the Eldar for study and experimentation.
It is known that Szeras waited on Nectavus VI for the day when the Warp would break free, and he would behold the death of an entire planet. As around him erupts a cataclysmic event, Illuminor Szeras calls upon his lurking armies and begins to pursue his own inscrutable goals. Their obsession with Szeras with the nature of biological life has led him to create new forms of repair on his own Necron soldiers, and his experiments (in many cases) have improved the effectiveness of the mechanical bodies of his servants.
Upon the return of the Silent King Szarekh, Szeras has joined him on the campaign to reverse Biotransference. Szarekh was able to convince Szeras that reversing the process he himself set into motion would give him the ultimate revelations he has been searching for.
Since the formation of the Great Rift, Szeras may have worked with the Nihilakh Dynasty to erect the Pariah Nexus in the Nephilim Sector. Thousands within the Pariah Nexus have since been captured and brought to Szeras’ laboratories for experimentation.
During the War in the Pariah Nexus, he viewed the Imperial invaders as little more than vermin and hoped to study the effect the Nexus would have on them. However, his trap soon turned into a series of frustrations for the Cryptek due to the presence of Ephrael Stern, whose faith-based power the Necrons had little counter for.
During the battle in the Tredica System, Inquisitor Draxus unleashed a captive C’tan Shard held at the heart of a Pylon complex. Szeras immediately lost interest in the Humans in this development and became desperate to contain the raging Star God.
