Obyron

"Only the deathless can truly comprehend the burden of unfailing loyalty."

—Vargard Obyron

Nemesor Zahndrekh (rear) and Varguard Obyron (fore) upon the field of battle.

Obyron is a Necron Lychguard who serves as the "vargard," or primary protector and bodyguard, of Nemesor Zahndrekh, the Necron Overlord of the crownworld of Gidrim of the Sautekh Dynasty.

Having served with Zahndrekh since his first campaigns when they were still Necrontyr, Obyron is devoted to the execution of his duties, and is the primary reason why Zahndrekh is still alive to this day.

Indeed, there are many Necron Lords in Zahndrekh's Royal Court who would dearly love to see the old general removed from power, for they judge his adrift perceptions now greatly outweigh his feats of battle. However, as befits his station, Zahndrekh has formidable defences against regicide.

His personal sepulchre is heavily woven with traps, his personal household retinue boasts three entire legions of Lychguard, and he even employs four score food tasters -- even though it has been countless millennia since any morsel passed his living metal lips. Yet Zahndrekh has one defence greater than all others -- Vargard Obyron himself.

History

Obyron has served as Zahndrekh's vargard since their very first campaign when both were still living beings -- an undignified but successful series of skirmishes in the swamps of Yama -- and has stood steadfast at his side ever since, both on the field of battle and off it.

Unlike his master, whose perceptions were damaged during the long period in stasis in such a way that he believes he is reliving the glories of the Necrontyr past before biotransference, Obyron is very much aware of the changes wrought upon their existence by the Great Sleep. However, the vargard has long since abandoned any attempt to awaken Zahndrekh to reality -- whatever the fault in his master's mind, the damage lies too deep.

So, like any dedicated servant, Obyron attends to all the loose ends created by Zahndrekh's eccentricities, chief of which are seeing to it that "honoured" prisoners of war are "killed whilst trying to escape," and that upstart Necron Lords of Zahndrekh's Royal Court are either silenced or disposed of.

Vargard Obyron's instincts for Gidrim's politics are every bit as finely tuned as Zahndrekh's are for battle. It is quite impossible for any plot to mature without word of it reaching Obyron, at which point he takes action to ensure it dies.

The exact method depends greatly on what Obyron considers to have the greatest impact. A public trial by combat for the chief plotter is invariably Obyron's favoured method -- his skill with a blade, legendary before biotransference, has decayed little with the passing millennia.

Sometimes however, Obyron deems the quiet terror of a conspirator's disappearance to have a more enduring effect. Regardless of the method, Obyron has proven his supremacy hundreds of times over, yet every few solar decades, another upstart noble foolishly chances his arm against the overlord of Gidrim, who, for his part, is content to leave the vargard to his work.

On many other worlds, Necron or otherwise, Obyron would be considered the true power behind the throne, yet his loyalty is total and completely without guile. He seeks no reward beyond continued service, and has never displayed an iota of desire to rule through his master.

During their campaigns, Zahndrekh and Obyron have proven to be an almost unbeatable combination. Zahndrekh seldom lowers himself to engage in personal combat, but instead wields as a weapon his grand battlefield acumen that somehow remains undimmed by his faltering memory.

Under his gaze, the Necron armies of Gidrim react almost instantaneously to counter enemy strategies, shifting between aggressive and defensive postures at a moment's notice. With a few carefully chosen words of command, outflanking foes are isolated and crushed, enemy assault waves dispersed, and fire support positions obliterated.

Such is Zahndrekh's crystal-perfect reading of the flow of battle that even the enemy's experienced veterans often seem like raw and fumbling recruits as their every tactic is anticipated and their every skill countered. For his part, Vargard Obyron fights in the front lines, wielding his Warscythe with a precision to be expected of a warrior who counts his campaigns by the thousand.

Yet no matter how distant he is, Obyron always keeps close watch on Zahndrekh -- his responsibilities as a bodyguard outweigh any other considerations. Should Zahndrekh be threatened, Obyron always returns to his master's side.

Notable Campaigns

Vargard Obyron.

• Escape from Cano'var (813.M41) - At Nemesor Zahndrekh's instruction, the Necron armies of the Tomb World of Gidrim invaded the T'au world of Cano'var, routing the planetary defenders after two solar weeks of campaigning. The Necron victory was short-lived, however. A demi-company of the White Scars Space Marine Chapter, led by Kor'sarro Khan, arrived on Cano'var, pursuing a now-obsolete punitive mission against the previous T'au inhabitants. An overwhelming volley of Gauss Weapon fire destroyed the White Scars' Thunderhawks moments after they landed, leaving Khan and his Battle-Brothers to fight a bold, but doomed, series of hit-and-run battles. Almost all of the White Scars were slain on Uzme Plateau, but Zahndrekh commanded that Kor'sarro Khan be spared and imprisoned. So did Khan begin a peculiar period of captivity beneath the surface of Cano'var. Zahndrekh treated him with honour, through few of the other Necron Lords even acknowledged his presence. At a bizarre feast, where food is placed before Zahndrekh and his court but goes uneaten, Khan learned he is but one of a dozen prisoners. With the desire for freedom outweighing any ranklement or rivalry, Khan and the other captives conspired to escape. The Necrons were slow to react and so the breakout went well at first. Only when Vargard Obyron took command did things go badly for the escapees. Several of the fugitives were slain by Obyron's Warscythe, leaving only Kor'sarro and an Eldar Ranger by the name of Illic Nightspear to fight on, and the latter swiftly received a blow that sent him sprawling from the fight. Thus did the battle devolve into a duel atop bleeding bodies and broken machines. Khan's sword was quicker and guided by a desperate fury, but Obyron's undying machine body repaired any damage within mere moments. Little by little, Khan tired, and the sweeping Warscythe came closer to connecting with each swing. Finally, one of the vargard's blows was too swift for Khan to evade -- the Warscythe sliced through his armour and deep into his flesh. Before Obyron could finish his foe, there was an intervention from an unexpected source. Unknown to either combatants, Zahndrekh had been watching the fight from afar and, impressed by Khan's skill and bravery, ordered Obyron to stand aside and let him leave. Dragging the crippled Nightspear behind, Khan finally escaped to the surface, found a still-functioning Tau spacecraft and left Cano'var far behind. Khan and Nightspear parted ways shortly after, the Eldar to his Craftworld and the White Scar to Chogoris. Shortly after Khan's return to his Chapter planet, Nemesor Zahndrekh and Vargard Obyron were added to the Scrolls of Vengeance, their names to be put forward as possible quarry for the next Great Hunt of the White Scars Chapter.
• Conquest of Uttu Prime (Unknown Date.M41) - The Conquest of Uttu Prime was a military campaign led by Nemesor Zahndrekh against the Imperial world of Uttu Prime in the Vidar Sector in the late 41st Millennium. Despite the intervention of a force of Space Marines drawn from the Imperial Fists Chapter, the world was lost to the Necrons and was integrated into the personal domain of Zahndrekh within the larger Sautekh Dynasty.

Wargear

• Necrodermis - Like all Necrons, Obyron's body is built from the self-repairing living metal known as Necrodermis. Like all Lychguards, his body is especially robust, sturdy and equipped with the most advanced self-repairing protocols, in order to ensure that whatever he faces, he can fulfill his primary function of bodyguard to his master.
• Warscythe - The traditional weapon of Necrontyr nobility and their bodyguards for eons, a Warscythe is an energy-bladed battle-staff. The energy field that encompasses the Warscythe allows it to cleave through almost anything with ease. Heavy and ungainly, these weapons are only effective in the hands of an untiring Necron combatant.
• Sempiternal Weave - A Sempiternal Weave is an enhancement of a Necron's exoskeleton in which filaments of phase-hardened Amaranthine and Adamantium are threaded throughout the Necrodermis, strengthening it to the point where the protection offered by it is akin to that of Terminator Armour.
• Ghostwalk Mantle - The Ghostwalk Mantle is a unique and specialised Veil of Darkness used only by Vargard Obryon. Originally commissioned to aid him in his role as the bodyguard of Nemesor Zahndrekh, it was designed by the foremost Cryptek Psychomancer of the Tomb World of Gidrim, the Dagon of the Shadowed Matrix. The Ghostwalk Mantle differs from a standard Veil of Darkness in that it allows Obyron to spirit himself away from the grasps of the enemy even when in combat, thus giving him the ability to redeploy himself and his unit with unparalleled ease, and stand at Zahndrekh's side immediately whenever he is needed to protect his charge.

Sources

• Codex: Necrons (5th Edition), pp. 21, 25, 60-61, 82
• Codex: Necrons (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 138-139