9 The Apemen and Necrontyr

W34.56B Section of the Webway, Year 4,031,758 OOC (75 million years before the events of 40k).

A fleet of Aztec design-focused ships of the Old Ones flew through the tunnels of the Webway at breakneck speeds. The ship's viewports were hexagon-shaped and dotted evenly along the sides of the ship. This was an Index-Class genetic seeding ship of the Old One's design. Designed during the end of the Age of Glory, these ships were designed to biologically engineer various lifeforms.

Oftentimes, these lifeforms would be used to terraform planets, usually done by engineered plants or fern species to convert an atmosphere into habitable conditions. Some of the big names of Old One society will use these seeding ships for noble purposes, such as seeding new humanoid life throughout the universe. It is a part of Old One's philosophy that all life can fill a niche and serve some purpose. So these seeding vessels are often signs of important figures undergoing a noble purpose; spreading life.

Inside this vessel, is one such figure; Honored One, Weklor, Apprentice to the WebWeaver Slagar. Weklor wore sacred ceremonial garments while sitting on his anti-gravity throne, unique to Honored Ones. He watched the passing Webway walls outside the viewport of the ship. His facial features had a look of dissatisfaction at the silver-colored Webway walls.

Deep in Weklor's heart, he had buried his dissatisfaction with his race's relationship with the Great Spirit Arlow for more than a million years. But pushing his feelings down did not make his pride disappear. It slowly grew, like rotting flesh underneath the skin, festering underneath over the years. It had gotten to the point, where he felt revulsion when he looked up the silver-hued edges, of the folded space which made up the Webway.

He would often find himself thinking of certain questions in his heart: 'How can this spirit of the Immaterium deserve credit for our scientific achievements? And its influence marks even along the tunnel spacial walls of the Webway? Was this spirit truly worthy to participate in their glory?'

And indeed, the Old One's society was glorious. It was no surprise for the younger generation of immortal Old Ones to think little of an Immaterium spirit, after all, they now had the technology to create artificial spirits on their own. Weklor was not alone in his dissatisfaction, in fact, it was a rising majority opinion and the Great Spirit Arlow was seen as an opportunist.

Despite his inner feelings, Weklor didn't voice them as it would change nothing. He tore his gaze away from the viewport and asked the nearby Bridgemaster, their estimated time of arrival.

"We are plotted to arrive within the hour, Honored One." The Bridgemaster said with practiced mannerisms.

The Great Counsel had granted Weklor permission for a seeding project of a race of apemen, a promising race among the millions of trials run back on the Old One homeworld. Weklor himself had participated in their genetic construction and through much paperwork, was approved to deploy the race in a far-off sector of the universe on a planet called Tera.

Weklor's only motive, like the rest of his race, was honor and glory. The apeman race possessed significant genome stability that left other seeding races in the dust. It wasn't that these organisms were anything amazing outright, it was more so that their genetic stability was abnormal allowing for a large variety of different mutant species to originate from this same race if given enough time.

If the race could show enough promise to the Great Counsel, perhaps he might even be rewarded with a personal title like his teacher, the Webweaver. Weklor daydreamed of the day that his name was held in the same regard as his teacher, on the tongue of every hatchling, in the paragraphs of recorded history.

'One day. I'll leave my mark just as big, no greater higher than yours.' Weklor swore in his heart.

The time passed until the ship dropped out of the Webway and into real space near the solar system of Tera. Weklor stayed here for the next decade, seeding the entire planet into a habitable location for life. This includes plant life, animals, ferns, and finally the apemen.

Little did he know how important the species descending from the apemen would be in the far future.

...

Far regions of the galaxy, Halo Stars region.

The sun here was green and cast the entire planet in an eerie glow caused by the dangerous radiation it emitted. This radiation was extremely volatile to the point that no normal life could survive its rays without genetic decay over time. And yet, despite the harsh conditions caused by the green sun for the planets nearby, life struggled forward on one planet.

This planet was the home of a humanoid species known as the Necrontyr. The Necrontyr had a culture that worshiped the dead to the highest degree. To them, life is a passing shadow and every moment of their lifespan is precious to them. They have short lives due to the harsh conditions caused by the sun's radiation, letting them live no longer than 30 years old.

Their people had long left their homeworld and drifted through the void of space in large cryo-sleep-like pods called crypts. Their original goal in spreading through the stars was to find a way to extend the damage done to their lifespans. They spread their reach across multiple star regions, colonizing their tomb worlds there and searching for an answer. But they have not yet succeeded. Their genetics had been thoroughly corrupted from the radiation of their green sun, and most modifications would cause a genetic collapse, killing them. Their bodies were unbelievably fragile.

Their ships were created with their superior technology and the use of a unique 'living' metal called Necrodermis to sustain themselves during the long travel. This race still had yet to discover the Immaterium like the Old Ones, as none of the Necrontyr possessed the psyker genes. They were stuck in an age when their ships could only travel at high speeds in real space, waiting for absurd amounts of time to pass before they reached their destinations.

The Necrontyr Empire was collapsing in on itself as its original goal to sail the stars for a cure, had been forgotten. The varying Necrontyr dynasties were warring with each other, scrambling in an unorganized and flailing mess to give them an achievable purpose. But this would all change, as Weklor's seeding ship makes contact with a tomb world.