Illuminor Szeras

Overview

Illuminor Szeras is the Cryptek who perfected biotransference. Hated and envied in equal measure, he trades his expertise to Necron lords for the living subjects he needs in his quest to unlock the secrets of life and become a god.

He serves Imotekh in return for a steady supply of living specimens, and in battle he can augment Necron warriors, making them faster or stronger for a time. His Eldritch Lance burns enemy armour with directed energy. He studies captives obsessively, dissecting them to understand the souls that he and his people lost. Szeras is the Cryptek whose twisted genius made biotransference possible. Hated and envied in equal measure, he saw his whole people's sacrifice as the first step toward his own C'tan-like godhood. In the 41st Millennium he gathers subjects from every species to study the living soul he no longer has. He has worked with Imotekh in exchange for specimens. Era Indomitus material links him to the Pariah Nexus.

Szeras leads the Zantragora Conclave of Crypteks, which works to solve the mysteries of life. He fears he would make a poor god without those secrets. Codex: Necrons (5th edition, p. 56) notes that, whatever his obsessions, no one is better at improving other Necrons' weapons and bodies, so overlords compete for his services. He names his own price, which is always a harvesting raid on a world of his choosing. Above all he wants Aeldari to study.

Origins

The C'tan gave the Necrontyr the theory of biotransference, but Szeras made it work. He saw his people's sacrifice as merely the first step in his own ascension.

In the age of the living Necrontyr, Szeras was already a brilliant and ambitious scientist, though his name was hardly known outside the Cryptek orders. His work on biotransference made him famous and infamous. Ever since, he has been trying to find a way to reverse or perfect what he did, seeking to elevate himself above the gods he helped bind.

Key events

1. Made biotransference a reality, condemning the Necrontyr to an undying existence.
2. Began a quest to become a being of pure energy, rivalling the C'tan.
3. Works on the mysteries of life in his laboratory on Zantragora.
4. Trades augmentations of weapons and bodies in exchange for living captives.
5. Has repeatedly come close to understanding life without ever grasping it.

He has used his findings on himself. Psychic Awakening: Pariah records that dissecting the compound eyes of Vuzsalen Arachtoids gave him better targeting optics, and molecular disassembly of Ambull hide produced tougher armour. He carries an eldritch lance and an empyric overcharger that can burn out a psyker's mind.

Szarekh won him over by arguing that reversing biotransference, the process Szeras himself made possible, would give him the revelations he has always wanted. With the Silent King and the Nihilakh Dynasty he built the Pariah Nexus in the Nephilim Sector. Thousands of captives were taken to his laboratories. He was especially pleased to learn that the Imperium had already gathered a population of Pariahs, humans unaffected by the Nexus, in the prison-fortress of Mirador. The trap went badly. Ephrael Stern's faith-born power had no answer in his science, and in the Tredica System Inquisitor Draxus released a captive C'tan Shard from a pylon complex. Szeras immediately lost interest in the humans and rushed to contain the raging Star God. Crusade: Pariah Nexus has him back at Szarekh's court with the Technomandrites, finishing the project while Imperial, Chaos and Imotekh's forces attack.

Battles & campaigns

• The War in Heaven: He was the architect of biotransference.
• The Pariah Nexus: Work in the Era Indomitus.

Personality

Szeras is arrogant, coldly curious and utterly without empathy. He believes the secrets of the soul are within his reach and will never accept that they may be beyond him.

He sees every other being, Necron or not, as a subject to be studied. He has no loyalty except to his research. His arrogance is matched only by his envy of the C'tan's power, which he hopes one day to surpass.

Weapons & Vehicles

Staff of Light & Eldritch LanceRanged Weapon

The arcane techno-sorcerous sceptres of Necron Crypteks and Overlords, unleashing searing bolts of captured stellar radiation while ser…

Gauss Flayer & Gauss BlasterRanged Weapon

The iconic emerald molecular-flaying beam rifle of the Necron legions, stripping flesh, bone and tank armour apart atom by atom in a bl…

Warscythe & Hyperphase SwordMelee Weapon

The dimensional-phasing polearms and emerald energy blades of Necron Overlords, Lychguard and Skorpekh Destroyers, slipping effortlessl…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (3)

• 
  Orikan the Diviner fellow cryptek · Necrons

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

• 
  Szarekh, the Silent King served · Necrons

  The C'tan supplied the knowledge, but Szeras made real the biotransference that Szarekh ordered.

• 
  Trazyn the Infinite parallel · Necrons

  Both treat living beings as specimens: Szeras for experiments, Trazyn for his collection.

Factions

• Necrons primary faction

Also in this faction

Anrakyr the TravellerImotekh the StormlordNemesor ZahndrekhVargard Obyron

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

Legacy

Szeras is the Cryptek whose genius damned his race. He made biotransference work and condemned the Necrontyr to soulless undeath, all in pursuit of his own ascension. His laboratories remain a nightmare for any living being captured by the Necrons, and his quest for the secret of life will probably never end. Szeras is perhaps the most reviled being in the galaxy, a title earned on the operating table.

Appearances & sources

• Codex: Necrons
• The Pariah Nexus campaign books