Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Nemesor Zandrekh ==

Nemesor Zandrekh is crazy. In fact, he is so crazy the Silent King cannot assume direct control over him like he can with so many other Phaerons, because Zandrekh believes he’s still flesh and blood and of course only a robot can be controlled that way.

He doesn't care much for this "Silent King" little gutter oik. Bah humbug and balderdash so he doesn't. Obviously such an uncultured and, quite frankly, barbaric swine must, in fact, be some sort of tinpot despot rebel or a petty little lordling from one of the lesser races trying to pull a clever ruse.

The true power in this galaxy, besides his self, of course, must be this great bustling Imperium business that everyone is going on about. Indeed not a day goes by when there isn't some sort of news from the border regarding their valiant and heroic efforts against what sounds suspiciously like the old enemies of the True Empire.

In fact, he would put money on these High Men of Earth being distant kin or descendants of his own people that waited out the upheavals and desolation. That must be it. They stayed awake and duked it out, this "Imperium" must, therefore, be The True Empire or at least something not too far removed from it.

And so Nemesor Zahndrekh made diplomatic contact with the Imperium. It took Harlequin Lore-Masters to translate the transmissions and once they figured out what the crazy old bastard was prattling on about they couldn't stop laughing.

Nemesor Zahndrekh of Gidrim and it's protected systems (about a dozen systems all told, only two conventionally inhabitable worlds and one of them only just) are not part of the Imperium but they are very close allies with it. Emperor Oscar deemed it prudent to play along with his delusions rather than risk him waking up and offered him the hand of friendship and invited him to a banquet in his honor to formalize the alliance.

So far the mad bastard has guarded his patch of space well and has come to the aid of the Imperium on several occasions, even going so far as to temporarily house a rescued ferry convoy on his throne world (near a quarter of a million people all told). He said he liked talking to the children. It had been many years since his hall echoed with such simple laughter.

On at least one occasion the Imperium came to his aid after receiving a message, from one of the ambassadorial team's astropaths, indicating that he was having "a spot of bother with some sort of insectoid life form". Shortly afterward contact was lost.

Needless to say, there were no eldar involved in anything relating to the Nemesor. They are pretty sure that he is going to try and kill them all at some point. Isha wasn't present during the official banquet. She was away on "State Business", an excuse Zahndrekh thankfully believed and took no offense. Oscar tried to show him a picture of Isha, to see if Nemesor was on the level, only for the mad old bastard to say “Quite a beautiful dame she is. I say, is she descended from one of the old royal bloodlines? She certainly has that regal Phaeron jawline. Shame she couldn’t attend on account of official business.” Oscar decided to take this information to his grave, rather than rile the Eldar up by saying that Nemesor had favorably compared their goddess to a Necrontyr Phaerakh. The only Eldar that are able to tolerate being around him are the Harlequins, and that’s only for the sheer schadenfreude of the whole thing. 

Everyone on the Ambassadorial Team is pretty sure that the imposing Necron called Obyron who stands by the Nemesor at all times is aware of how reality is and how his lord is and is merely playing along for the sake of his master. He and the Ambassadorial Team have come to an unspoken agreement. They don't try anything covert and no "accidents" will happen. 

Obyron stays around Nemesor because as bad as Nemesor is, the Silent King is worse, and as long as he serves Nemesor he doesn’t have to listen to Szarekh through clever use of loopholes because he’s “obeying his lord”. He also feels some sympathy for the old man…er…skele-bot, as crazy as he is. Obyron does still love his master. For all that he is crazy, he is still Zahndrekh and he owes him so very much.

Zahndrekh was actually a rather nice individual even before becoming a senile skele-bot. He treated defeated enemies with respect, had a sense of noblesse oblige that led him to care for those under his command, and was even altruistic enough to take in a young gutter urchin Obyron into his household. Of course, this was the infamously deadly and backstabbing world of Necrontyr politics. Zahndrekh was a [[Creed|brilliant strategist]] and was nice because he could afford to be nice, and those who took niceness as weakness [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilician_pirates#Julius_Caesar| paid the consequences]. The eldar are terrified that if Zahndrekh ever snapped back to sanity he would turn into a murderbot 5000. In reality, if you could circumvent the issue with the control protocol, you’d probably just get a more coherent and intelligent Zahndrekh.

This is actually part of the reason Szarekh brought Zahndrekh into his fold during the Second Wars of Secession. He was unflinchingly loyal, a skilled general, and he made Szarekh’s side look good. The fact that the Nemesor could be lenient to those who genuinely pledged themselves to Szarekh made him a good carrot to the bigger stick of many of his other generals during the Wars of Secession because he made Szarekh look benevolent and merciful to his enemies. And this was back when Szarekh still had some humanity (necrontyrity?) in him and could be as magnanimous as he was brutal. Part of the reason Zahndrekh doesn’t recognize the authority of the Silent King is his last memories date to the Second Wars of Secession, and he has a hard time reconciling the young, headstrong Szarekh from then with what he became.

Of the two inhabitable worlds in his Dynasty, the least shit is settled by Tau. They've regressed biologically back to the pre-caste tau by interbreeding when the caste system broke down.

They are pretty substandard in terms of technology, they have shit from the early days of the Tau's first steps into the galaxy. It is suspected that they are the descendants of one of the early and mysteriously lost colony ships.

Nemesor Zahndrekh considers them to be quaint and primitive but with a rustic charm. They also show him, as their lord and master, proper tribute and reverence on the occasion that he visits them. So he lets them have the planet.

It's the more pleasant of his two inhabitable worlds but he wasn't using it. Also, a lord should be judged not by how he treats his equals and betters but by how he treats those beneath him of whom he has no reason to fear. That is the mark of a worthy lord. That is why the Silent King is a despicable little oik and no king of his say what.

Although the least shit of the two planets it's still pretty shit. Insufficient ozone layer and barely 25% sea cover. You can live there but it's not a holiday resort.

One should note, though, that Zandrekh’s decisions, while masked behind a layer of the haha-funny antics of a loon, still make sense from the perspective of a Phaeron looking to get out from under the Silent Kong’s thumb. And it is said he talks to Obyron when no one is around to hear it. Perhaps there’s more to Nemesor than simply an insane Overlord, after all?