Nemesor Zahndrekh

Overview

Nemesor Zahndrekh is one of the most celebrated generals of the Sautekh Dynasty. In ancient times his campaigns raised Gidrim from an insignificant fringe world to master of a dozen star systems. He remains a tactical genius, but his mind is lost in the distant past. He believes he is still a living Necrontyr fighting the Wars of Secession, and he sees every enemy as a rebellious kinsman.

His mastery of counter-tactics lets him read an opponent's plan as it unfolds and dismantle it. He treats captured enemy commanders as honoured guests of a rival noble house, sometimes releasing them, to the frustration of the Sautekh court. Zahndrekh is Overlord of Gidrim, a minor tomb world that became the iron-fisted ruler of a dozen star systems through his campaigns. He is one of the greatest generals of the Sautekh Dynasty and one of the most deluded. His mind is damaged, and he believes he is still fighting the wars of his flesh-and-blood youth, treating Imperial and T'au forces as rebellious Necrontyr nobles. His genius survives the madness, and so do his strange courtesies.

Origins

Zahndrekh was a great general of the living Necrontyr. The Great Sleep damaged his perceptions, and he woke unaware of biotransference or the passage of sixty million years. Gidrim is now a crownworld within Imotekh's Sautekh empire, and one of its most expansionist, menacing the Eastern Fringe.

Nate Crowley's novella Severed shows Zahndrekh's past. He was born into the highest Necrontyr nobility and attended one of the race's most celebrated military academies, where he met his closest friend and rival, Setekh. He still considers those the best days of his life. After he earned his commission, he was given an army to put down separatists on Yama during the Wars of Secession. That was when Obyron, already a veteran, was assigned to him. The world of Gidrim was his reward for victory at Yama, and it was then a minor planet.

Key events

1. As a living Necrontyr, led the conquests that made Gidrim ruler of a dozen star systems.
2. Woke from the Great Sleep with damaged memories. Since then he has fought the younger races as if they were the rebel kings of the Wars of Secession.
3. Ordered the Gidrim legions against the T'au world of Cano'var in 813.M41, routing its defenders in the campaign known as the Escape from Cano'var.
4. Insists on the full code of honourable Necron warfare, forbidding Deathmarks and assassin constructs and capturing enemy commanders as 'honoured prisoners'. This outrages his court.
5. Has survived repeated plots by nobles who want him removed, thanks to a trap-laden sepulchre, three legions of Lychguard and, above all, his vargard Obyron.

Battles & campaigns

• Cano'var (813.M41): He routed the T'au and then destroyed a White Scars demi-company.
• The Conquest of Uttu Prime: He took the world despite Imperial Fists intervention.

Personality

Zahndrekh is courteous, chivalrous and generous to defeated foes. Some see him as a dignified relic of a lost age, others as a pitiable madman. His brilliance on the battlefield is undimmed. He reads terrain and enemy intent with uncanny skill and is completely confident in his cause.

"Will without honour is nothing" is the line Severed attributes to him. His sense of honour shapes the way he fights. Against a worthy opponent he refuses to use assassins such as Canoptek Wraiths or Deathmarks, believing that enemy commanders should be captured, not murdered, and treated with the respect owed to fellow Necrontyr nobles. Because his damaged mind sees every enemy as a rebel Necrontyr, those respectful captures have produced some of the strangest episodes in the 41st Millennium. His staff of light matches Setekh's in every detail except the green glow of its power core, where his old friend's burns blue. He also carries a phase shifter to protect himself.

Weapons & Vehicles

Staff of Light & Eldritch LanceRanged Weapon

The arcane techno-sorcerous sceptres of Necron Crypteks and Overlords, unleashing searing bolts of captured stellar radiation while ser…

Warscythe & Hyperphase SwordMelee Weapon

The dimensional-phasing polearms and emerald energy blades of Necron Overlords, Lychguard and Skorpekh Destroyers, slipping effortlessl…

Gauss Flayer & Gauss BlasterRanged Weapon

The iconic emerald molecular-flaying beam rifle of the Necron legions, stripping flesh, bone and tank armour apart atom by atom in a bl…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (2)

• 
  Imotekh the Stormlord rival · Necrons

  Zahndrekh is the only true rival within the Sautekh Dynasty.

• 
  Vargard Obyron bodyguard · Necrons

  Obyron has guarded Zahndrekh for millennia.

Factions

• Necrons primary faction

Also in this faction

Anrakyr the TravellerIlluminor SzerasOrikan the DivinerSzarekh, the Silent KingTrazyn the Infinite

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Zahndrekh is the general lost in the past, a tactical genius who believes he is still fighting the Wars of Secession. His chivalry and his madness make him one of the most sympathetic Necron nobles, and the Gidrim legions' victories show that his brilliance has outlasted his grip on reality. Zahndrekh shows the tragedy of the Necrons. Brilliant, honourable and utterly lost in a past that is gone.

Codex: Necrons (9th edition, p. 84) says the lords of his own Royal Court are the ones most convinced he should be removed, which is why Obyron's role is so important. Few Sautekh Nemesors are praised more highly for strategy, and his campaigns have turned a minor world into the capital of a dozen star systems.

Appearances & sources

• Codex: Necrons