Orikan the Diviner

Overview

Orikan the Diviner is a Necron chronomancer who reads the future in the stars and can even step briefly back through time to make sure his predictions come true. He serves the Sautekh Dynasty and advises Imotekh, but his own plans may be longer and darker than his master's.

He carries the Staff of Tomorrow, and when the stars align as his calculations predict, he becomes Orikan Empowered, a towering being of crackling energy. His power to rewind a moment of time makes him a perfect saboteur: he can watch an event unfold, step back and alter it before anyone else realises. Orikan was once the astromancer of the Triarch and one of Szarekh's most trusted counsellors. Now he is a chronomancer so skilled that he can walk a short way back into the past to correct his predictions. He serves Imotekh outwardly and pursues his own ascension in secret, and he enjoys a long-running feud with Trazyn. On the battlefield, when the stars are right, he blazes into a form of terrifying power.

Origins

Millions of years ago he was astromancer to the Triarch and one of the Silent King Szarekh's most trusted counsellors. He alone opposed the C'tan Mephet'ran's offer of biotransference, foreseeing disaster, but he was overruled. Out of loyalty to his people he underwent the process anyway, and found that his powers grew once he was freed of flesh.

Robert Rath's The Infinite and the Divine gives Orikan a mortal past. He was born into a warrior family, but was too frail to join the Immortals as his father wanted. After failing at the Immortals' temple, he turned to mysticism instead. When biotransference came, he refused and was dragged to the bio-furnaces in chains. He woke on the Sautekh world of Mandragora long before most of his race and spent millennia on his own plans before Imotekh rose. Codex: Necrons (5th edition) records how he protects his reputation. When the Silver Skulls saved the Helios VI dockyards from Waaagh! Skullkrak, contrary to his prediction, he travelled back in time and ambushed them so his prophecy would come true.

Key events

1. Opposed the C'tan Mephet'ran's offer of biotransference before the Triarch. He was the only dissenting voice.
2. Foresaw the fall of the Aeldari, the rise of Mankind, the Horus Heresy and the coming of the Tyranids long before they happened.
3. Serves the Sautekh under Imotekh, whose campaigns rely heavily on his calculations.
4. Was trapped by Trazyn in a time loop on Serenade and took more than a century to escape, an ordeal that felt to him like thousands of years.
5. Took part in the Carnac Campaign of 999.M41 alongside Anrakyr the Traveller.

The same novel traces his ten-thousand-year feud with Trazyn over the Astrarium Mysterios and the supposed tomb of Overlord Nephreth on Serenade. A court once ordered the two to marry as a punishment, then dissolved the union when the sentence ended. Entombed when the Imperium virus-bombed Serenade, Orikan took more than two centuries to dig himself out, which felt like over two thousand years to him because he kept resetting time whenever he was caught. The tomb proved to be a trap set by a shard of the Deceiver. Using an Aeldari gem supplied by Trazyn, Orikan became a god-like being of light and defeated it. The novel notes that each reset effectively overwrites his past self, a kind of death Orikan prefers to call a merging.

In the sequel, The Wicked and the Warped, he and Trazyn fall for two years through an interdimensional tunnel, arguing all the way. On Amenthis they expose the Greater Daemon Pestamutadis, a servant of Vashtorr, and Orikan is saved by a future version of himself from a timeline where Solemnace and Mandragora fell. He ends the book wanted by the Triarch for siding with the Sautekh in the Necron civil war. Crusade: Pariah Nexus says he refused Szarekh's service until Vashtorr arrived, then changed his mind, which worried the Silent King more than any refusal.

Battles & campaigns

• The Lazar System (859.M41): His astromantic analyses subverted a Farseer's prophecies and helped Anrakyr win at Dreadpeak.
• The Carnac Campaign (999.M41): He was involved in Anrakyr's struggle against Aeldari Exodites.

Personality

Orikan is condescending and secretive, and enjoys the discomfort of others. He treats the nobility with mocking scorn and carries himself as if he is in on a joke that no one else can see. His rivals find him almost impossible to punish because he always knows their plans in advance.

Weapons & Vehicles

Staff of Light & Eldritch LanceRanged Weapon

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Warscythe & Hyperphase SwordMelee Weapon

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Gauss Flayer & Gauss BlasterRanged Weapon

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Connections

Characters (4)

• 
  Anrakyr the Traveller adviser · Necrons

  Orikan's astromancy helped Anrakyr counter a Farseer's prophecies.

• 
  Illuminor Szeras fellow cryptek · Necrons

  Both are famed Crypteks who sell their arts to the dynasties; no shared campaign is recorded.

• 
  Imotekh the Stormlord adviser · Necrons

  Orikan's prophecies guide Imotekh's campaigns.

• 
  Trazyn the Infinite rival · Necrons

  Trazyn and Orikan have a long-standing rivalry.

Factions

• Necrons primary faction

Also in this faction

Nemesor ZahndrekhSzarekh, the Silent KingVargard Obyron

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

Legacy

Orikan is the chronomancer whose visions guide the Sautekh. His mocking contempt for the nobility, and the knowledge he keeps to himself, make him one of the Necron race's great unknowns. His ability to read and alter the flow of time means no one, not even Imotekh, can be sure where his loyalties truly lie. Orikan is the Necrons' Cassandra: a prophet proven right in the worst way possible.

Appearances & sources

• Codex: Necrons
• The Infinite and the Divine (Robert Rath)