Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Void Dragon ==

The Void Dragon is said to resemble a giant chrome dragon, slightly humanoid in appearance. The reason for this goes back to when the C'tan got physical bodies. The C'tan all started out with standard humanoid bodies, but then gradually customized them as they started to develop their own preferences and to distinguish one another. However, whereas some went with [[Deceiver|horns and glorious golden abs]] or [[Nightbringer|hooded death]], the Void Dragon went "Pfft, a completely customisable physical form and you losers keep essentially humanoid factory configurations? I'm going balls-to-the-wall customization on this thing". Much like the AdMech. It's one of the reasons it likes the Mechanicus so much.

The giant adamantium strips used to tie down the Void Dragon on Mars aren't actually what's keeping the Dragon restrained. The Mechanicum put them on the Dragon after they found it, the equivalent of putting a cheap bike lock on your nuclear silo to give yourself some peace of mind. The actual shackles of the Old Dragon are much more arcane and probably Old One in design.

It should be noted that the Void Dragon, regardless of how benevolent he may seem, is not “safe”. Not in any sense of the word. Like all god-like beings in the galaxy he has a duality. In this case creation and destruction. Penicillin and the atom bomb. The Void Dragon would build a doomsday weapon, not to use it, but simply to make one. And then forget about it or give it to the first person who asks because he certainly isn't using it. Information wants to be free. Despite actually caring about mortals to some degree, he's ditzy, scatter-brained, has no sense of subtlety or proportional response, and has a tendency to completely forget about potential consequences or collateral damage until after the fact. Case in point, when he came up with the idea of the biotransference he thought souls were some useless vestigial thing like an appendix that wasn't necessary for quality of life, being without a warp reflection at the time and not really getting what the Warp was. He was just happy his worshippers were no longer getting sick and dying, whereas the other C'tan were more interested in the souls. Cegorach informed him of this fact which made him realize he fucked up. Of course, he still wants to try it again, because <i>this time</i> he's <i>clearly</i> figured out what went wrong and <i>this</i> time it will work for sure (hint:probably not). "Necron 2.0" is high on Void Dragon's priority list along with things like "poke Eye of Terror with a stick" and "murder siblings horribly". Best case scenario he needs a baby sitter to keep him from doing something really stupid. Worst case scenario he ends up starting another War in Heaven assuming the galaxy survives the current crisis.

Early on in the War in Heaven Mag’ladroth, despite being one of the most physically powerful of the C’tan, was sidelined into building devices for the Necrontyr and the other C'tan. He had more of a taste for it, though the other C'tan all made fun of him behind his back. Among the things he invented were the designs for the Cadian pillars and other such devices. Sure, he made a whole boat load of what might have appeared to be doomsday weapons, but never as actual weapons. Case in point, he made a long range mega gravitation inverter. Charge it up, point it at a thing and press the ominous red button. It makes a portion of the objects gravity turn into anti-gravity usually resulting in an explosion and if you point it at a star can cause a supernova and irradiate whole swathes of space. He said it would be useful in future mining endeavors. For when you want to mine a black hole. Then the War in Heaven started getting serious, and Mag’ladroth had to be tapped. Not only did Mag'ladroth's talents of "brute, overwhelming force" become apparent to the point where his name became synonymous for "overkill" among the eldar, but the rest of the C’tan found out that just about everything he invented had a “kill” setting that he could easily switch on when he got serious.

The Void Dragon has no specific grudge with the hrud, eldar, and other Old One servant races. He does, however, hate the Old Ones. The C'tan got their shiny corporeal bodies in exchange for them fighting the Old Ones. That was the deal. On a more personal note, though, the Old Ones were beating up on the Necrontyr who had been so nice to the C'tan in giving them physical form. The Void Dragon saw the War in Heaven in the rather simplistic lens of giving the ones who had been bullying the people who had been kind to the C'tan down a taste of their own medicine. Everyone else is merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The fact that the dinosaurs on Earth were wiped out at the same time as the War in Heaven isn't a coincidence. When the Void Dragon went to confront his brethren in the Sol system, someone got [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater body-slammed into the Yucatan peninsula] (unclear if it was the Dragon doing the slamming or being slammed) before the Void Dragon was imprisoned and his carcass dumped on Mars. Sol was a backwater wildlife preserve for the Old Ones at the time.

===Cegorach's Favor===

The Void Dragon feels he owes Cegorach a favor. The Void Dragon was the only one of the C’tan who took the idea of being the Necron’s gods "seriously", even if his idea of doing a "good job" is warped. Cegorach was the one to point out that the Void Dragon was neglecting his godly duties by inadvertently lobotomizing his followers and letting his siblings use them as cannon fodder, in an attempt to sow discord among the C’tan in a prelude for the big betrayal at the end of the War in Heaven. Even though it worked, and the Void Dragon was taken out of commission early, from the Void Dragon’s point of view he still owes Cegorach a favor for letting him know what his siblings were doing to the Necrons. Indeed, it is quite likely that the Void Dragon is Cegorach’s ace in the hole. If things get really bad, Cegorach can just sic the Void Dragon on whatever the threat is. Then one of three events occurs.

1. Void Dragon and threat kill each other, problem solved.<br>
2. Threat kills Void Dragon, but is weakened enough for Cegorach or someone else to finish the job.<br>
3. Void Dragon wins. Although a free Void Dragon is not necessarily a good thing, at least he can be reasoned with to some degree. Alternatively, if Void Dragon is unstable and weak enough, Cegorach can finish him off himself.

So no matter what happens, Cegorach wins. It’s a very Eldar thing to do. Cegorach is probably one of the only beings outside the Mechanicum who knows where the Void Dragon is imprisoned, but he keeps that to himself and speaks in half-truths to anyone who asks.

===Void Dragon and Vaul===

Believe it or not, there is a rather surprising way in which a freed (assumedly pro-Imperium) Void Dragon might be able to exist in a post-End Times without the Eldar starting the War in Heaven 3.0: Vaul. The Void Dragon doesn’t hold any intrinsic ill will towards the Eldar and their gods (indeed, that seems to be more a Necron thing than a C’tan thing), and that’s largely due to Cegorach and Vaul. The Void Dragon is all about creation, invention, and innovation for its own sake, with little thought to the consequences. The reason it likes Vaul? It saw their famous battle less as a duel to the death, and more as two fellow inventor deities showing off and testing out their creations on one another, and wants to do it again.

Keep in mind that Vaul did not share the same sentiment about this (taking the battle as serious as it was). Nor was this a case of the Void Dragon being so powerful Vaul could not hurt him. Despite officially being a draw, the Void Dragon was beaten bloody by the encounter, and it was the closest he ever came to death before his brethren ganged up on him. The fact that he is actually excited about the prospect of doing this again should tell you volumes about the Void Dragon’s mindset.

If the Void Dragon ever saw the Eldar again, it would probably be giddy to see “Vaul’s People”, and excitedly ask where Vaul is. He would be devastated to find out what happened.  Also mentioning the whole “chained to an anvil” thing would be a bad idea. Despite the fact that Vaul had no love for the Void Dragon, his actions may have won the Eldar a new (unwanted) replacement. Even though the AdMech may be his favorites, the Void Dragon doesn’t mind expanding his worshipper base. If the Void Dragon finds out what happened to Vaul, it might be the spark needed to turn the proxy war between the various gods into a bare-knuckle cage-fight Because while “technology”, “invention”, and “destruction” are all part of the Void Dragon’s portfolio, “subtlety” and “restraint” aren’t. This is the being that thinks tripwires attached to a low-yield nuke constitute effective "area denial" against infantry.

As a result, Cegorach might get the Void Dragon to fight for the Eldar and Imperium without even having to use up his favor. Truly the master of trolls.

==="Prophet" Courtswain===

In this Nobledarkness Senior Adept Courtswain is the person the Adeptus Mechanicus show into the holding cell when they want someone to prod the Dragon or ask it questions. Needless to say he is the lowest ranking of the few that know. He only even got the job because the men in the better grade of robes wanted someone expendable to prod the Dragon.

Now the bonkers is replaced by vexation and irritation at the stupid word games and slippery answers and worrying questions. Also Senior Adept Courtswain is getting quite worried. Mag'ladroth has declared him to be Prophet Courtswain. On the one hand you have the more senior tech-priests all slightly pissed off that he is held in higher regard, but at the same time glad they aren't the subject of the Dragon’s attention. On the other hand Courtswain is pretty freaked by the whole thing. When asked about this the Dragon replied:

''"Consider the following logic. You relay the words of your God to the lesser priests do you not? And you speak to your God on the comings and goings of your subjects. Do you not ask your God for wisdom and purpose and plead the case of the less worthy? Therefore, you are my little prophet Courtswain. I have chosen you".''

Considering that he is the youngest of those that know, Courtswain has also only just gotten over the shock of learning that the Omnissiah is also the Mars Creed's Satan equivalent.

So now Courtswain is, in his own opinion, the Prophet of Satan.

===The Feeding===

an event the Guardians of the Dragon refer to in hushed tones as "the Feeding of the Dragon". An Inquisitor stumbled upon enough cookie crumbs to figure out that the Void Dragon was under Mars. He infiltrated the inner workings of the Mechanicum and causes a ruckus, taking several members of the Guardians of the Dragon hostage. The Guardians tried to tell him he was wrong but he wouldn't listen, and rapidly escalated the situation to outright threats. As in:

"Maybe I won’t have to call down Exterminatus. Maybe I’ll just release the information of what you have hidden here on Mars and the Imperium will just call down Exterminatus by itself."

The Mechanicus were in a bind, they couldn't let the secret get out but an Inquisitor is someone you don't just disappear. Eventually they realized the Inquisitor was a corrupted radical, not doing this with Inquisitorial backing (which makes sense given how quickly he escalated things to violence) and was a member of the Hydra.

The Inquisitor had become obsessed with the idea that the Void Dragon had some connection to the origin of the Hydra. The Void Dragon was the Necron god of both innovation and destruction. Beginning and end. Alpha and omega.

Realizing the fallen Inquisitor was batshit insane, the Mechanicus decided the best course of action was to give the crazy person what they want, and showed them the Dragon. Upon seeing the prostrate dragon, the Inquisitor fell to their knees and pledged their submission to the Dragon, exhoriating their beliefs. The Dragon didn't react as expected.

"A twisted version of that faith, to be sure, but there are concordances. However, you have caused harm and distress to my other followers beyond acceptable levels of tolerance. That will not be permitted. You have 2.2104 seconds to live following the end of this statement. I hope you enjoy this time."

It is not said what happened after this moment, only that the event was so disturbing that the Guardians of the Dragon refused to enter the details of it in their logbook. Some might claim this as a victory, the secret of the Void Dragon remained hidden and the person who had died trying to discover them was a traitor, rather than one of the Imperium’s own. But the Mechanicus did not see it that way.

They saw it as a failure. Because they had to get the Void Dragon to solve their problems for them.

=== The Dragon's Dreams ===

Although Mag'ladroth was unable to start directly communicating to people until the coming of the Mechanicus (whose tech-fetish synchronizes perfectly with his mindset), humans have received bits of its thoughts for quite some time. The Dragon is an entity of immense cosmic power, and Earth is the planet right next door. Each culture interprets said information a little differently:

* Europe and the Middle East see an entity of primeval destruction who hoards things and guards knowledge (Python/Typhon/Jormundgandr/Biblical Serpent/Medieval Dragon), unaware that the treasure being guarded IS knowledge.
* The Egyptians see a serpent of oblivion who picked a fight with a [[Nightbringer|sun god]] and lost (Apophis).
* The people of East Asia see a powerful yet benevolent force of nature and order that provides for his people (Long).
* The Mesoamericans see a serpent god who defied his brethren for having morals and got banished for it (Quetzalcoatl/Kukulkan).

Each only tells part of the story as the Dragon is trying to send its message through what amounts to a really staticky connection that fades in and out and is only half-heard at best, people fill in the rest with their own cultural experiences and the legend distorts through the ages. The Dragon doesn't even know it did this, it was just screaming into the ether incoherently for any kind of help.

It's even possible that the Dragon influenced the type of technology that humanity developed. Humanity seems to have more of a tendency towards use of cybernetics than other races, and while most of that seems to be the result of our own natural tendencies the initial push might have come from Mag'ladroth. Humanity didn't even know the Void Dragon existed until the Olympus Mons Brotherhood found it, the Great and Bountiful Human Dominion couldn't detect its tomb with Dark Age tech and the AdMech only found it because it was subconsciously directing them to its resting place. It's also possible that it only became more coherent if its bonds were jarred during the Iron War (say, by the psi-disruptor).

The disturbing similarities between humanity and the Necrontyr and the Krork have not gone unnoticed by some eldar. Despite the physical similarities and the fact that humans and eldar both descended from tree-dwelling, primate-like omnivores, humanity as a while seem to be evolving into something more Necron or Ork-like than eldar-like, especially if one looks at what augmented humans tend to look like. Built for durability and endurance over agility and dexterity. If humans (especially pre-spaceflight humanity) are roughly analogous to the proto-eldar as they were before the Old Ones came, then the human equivalent of a modern eldar would be something more like a psychic Sister of Battle or one of Fabius Bile’s New Men, built more for plowing through obstacles than leaping around them. And like the Necrontyr we have a knack for material technology, humanity’s “hat” before the Age of Strife was A.I., one they relinquished after the corruption of the Iron Minds and the rebellion of the Men of Iron (and is now picked up by the Tau). In fact, humanity right before the fall was a species complex composed of numerous different variations of organic and machine increasingly blending together to the point where complete breakdown of the terms was likely in the future if Slaanesh hadn't happened. Those eldar that do notice are hoping that the third time is the charm, and that their influence will keep humanity from turning out like the Necrontyr or the Orks.

=== Wyverns ===

In terms of how the wyverns fit into the universe, we’ve mentioned before how Nobledark is a universe well suited to RPGs like Dark Heresy and the like. C’tan vampires are more like a final boss following a quest of political intrigue. Wyverns are when you want to run a good old “slay the dragon” campaign but in space. Their durability also encourages novel solutions to dealing with them. Powerlevel can be varied by how much it’s eaten. In terms of tabletop, a wyvern is something the Necrons could bring along as a monstrous creature should a dynasty ever manage to wrangle one. Wyverns are your typical animalistic St. George “break stuff” dragon, whereas the big daddy Dragon on Mars is more like an eastern dragon, Smaug, or as mentioned before "eldritch robot space Quetzalcoatl" (with hints of Prometheus and Autocthon). So we get multiple types of dragons for the price of one.

I wasn’t sure where to state it, but the reason the Ad-Mech can seal these things is they have a limited supply of Necron Tesseract Labyrinths they pull out the minute they hear rumor of a Wyvern. In canon, the Grey Knights have a collection of Tesseract Labyrinths they use to imprison particularly nasty daemons, which they had to have gotten from somewhere. Here they got them from the AdMech who keep their own stash handy in case they have to bury any of their dirty little secrets.

The explanation for why didn’t they try using this on Apep? They tried. The Tesseract Labyrinths were good at capturing the relatively straightforward daemons of Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch, and Nurgle, but Apep is based on such contradictory Malalic bullshit it didn’t stick. In essence whereas other entities would try to fight the labyrinth and try to escape (thereby doing what the labyrinth wants by drawing you in deeper with paradoxical shit), Apep immediately did the opposite and found the exit, and so he basically poofed out of the Tesseract Labyrinth.

If the binding device created by the Old Ones were to be turned off, the Wyverns would probably all snap back into being heralds and extensions of the Void Dragon as a sort of single mind in multiple bodies, more like the other C'tan are now.

The Void Dragon might have plans to intentionally use shards of himself (particularly after seeing what his brother the Deciever has done) to help wean humanity off of that ridiculous little A.I. phobia of theirs. Specifically by using shards of himself geth-style to take over major Imperial systems as a pseudo-A.I.

It is doubtful people would find having a C'tan in their systems any better than an A.I. 

Alternatively he might use them to keep tabs on people of note. This is assuming he doesn’t just go full Godzilla.

Also, looking through canon fluff, I found it hilarious that Saim-Hann’s Cosmic Serpent is basically exactly what we have for the Void Dragon in this timeline. “Pals” with Cegorach after Cegorach bested him in a game of wits and Cegorach earned a boon? Check. Exists in both the Materium and Immaterium at the same time? Check. Associated with knowledge? Check.