Event · M41
Orphean War
The Orphean War is the conflict in which Maynarkh Dynasty Necrons made first contact with the Imperium of Man, ravaging the Orpheus Sector. The Maynarkh, a Necron dynasty of Segmentum Tempestus concealed since the Great Sleep within a warp-storm-wracked region of the galactic south-west, stirred when the ancient Caracol Binary Star went supernova. Many of the newly woken collapsed at once into feral Flayed Ones, victims of the Curse of the Flayer first recorded within the dynasty’s ranks, while the hundreds of thousands who emerged intact in body were nonetheless consumed by an unnatural bloodlust. Order was restored chiefly by Phaerakh Xun’bakyr, styled the Mother of Oblivion, who gave the reawakened dynasty a singular purpose — the systematic extermination of all life — and turned its legions outward into Imperial space. After a period of probing contact and study, the Maynarkh’s Undying Legions advanced against the Orpheus Sector’s Imperial holdings, with fighting recorded on worlds including Amarah Prime. The invasion is associated with commanders named alongside Xun’bakyr in Maynarkh tradition, among them Ixatotekh, called the Jack Regent and Lord-hunter of the void, the Nemesor Tlazolt the Faceless, the commander Maktlan Kutlakh, known as the World Killer, and the Master Cryptek Toholk. Accounts describe an entire Imperial sector brought low, its defenders overwhelmed by an enemy whose true numbers and strength were not apparent until battle was already joined. As recorded, the Orphean War remains unresolved: the Maynarkh are described as only partially awakened, and their intentions beyond the Orpheus Sector are not established. The conflict marks the dynasty’s entry into the wider galactic stage alongside other recently stirred Necron courts, such as the Sautekh under Imotekh the Stormlord contesting the Eastern Fringe, and stands within Orrery’s timeline as the anchor point for the Maynarkh’s presence in the current era. Its final outcome, and the fate of the Orpheus Sector’s surviving population, await further record.
See where Orphean War occurred on the galactic map in the 41st Millennium.