Vargard Obyron

Overview

Vargard Obyron is a Lychguard, Nemesor Zahndrekh's sworn bodyguard, and the main reason the eccentric general is still alive. Unlike his master, he knows exactly what the Necrons have become. He quietly manages the court politics of Gidrim so that Zahndrekh can go on fighting his imagined wars.

He wears the Ghostwalk Mantle, a cloak of shadow technology that lets him teleport to his lord's side in an instant, and carries a warscythe. Zahndrekh's rivals have learned that any attack on the nemesor must first get past Obyron, and few have done so. Obyron is Zahndrekh's vargard, his bodyguard and closest companion. He has stayed loyal through millions of years. Unlike his master he knows exactly what they have become, and he protects Zahndrekh's illusion out of devotion. His Ghostwalk Mantle, made by the Gidrim Cryptek the Dagon of the Shadowed Matrix, lets him teleport out of combat and back to his lord's side.

Obyron is Zahndrekh's bodyguard, but his real work is politics. Many lords in Zahndrekh's court would like to see the old general removed, believing his delusions now outweigh his victories. Obyron's feel for Gidrim's politics is as sharp as Zahndrekh's feel for battle. No plot matures without word of it reaching him, and once it does, the plot dies.

Origins

Obyron has been Zahndrekh's vargard since their very first campaign as living Necrontyr, a series of undignified but successful skirmishes in the swamps of Yama. He has stood at his lord's side ever since, through biotransference and the Great Sleep.

Key events

1. Fought beside Zahndrekh in the swamp campaigns of Yama, beginning a partnership that has lasted millions of years.
2. Woke from the Great Sleep with his mind clear. After failing to bring his master back to reality, he chose to protect him instead.
3. Fought in the Gidrim campaign against the T'au on Cano'var in 813.M41.
4. Makes sure the 'honoured prisoners' Zahndrekh takes are discreetly 'killed while trying to escape'.
5. Finds and crushes plots against Zahndrekh, often by challenging the chief conspirator to a public trial by combat.

Obyron also fought in the conquest of Uttu Prime, an Imperial world in the Vidar Sector. Despite intervention by the Imperial Fists, the world fell and became part of Zahndrekh's personal domain within the Sautekh Dynasty.

Battles & campaigns

• Cano'var (813.M41): He crushed the prisoners' breakout and duelled Kor'sarro Khan.
• Campaigns of Gidrim: He has fought at Zahndrekh's side in every war.

Personality

Obyron is loyal, pragmatic and politically shrewd. His instinct for court intrigue matches his master's instinct for battle. He is a legendary swordsman and has an almost brotherly devotion to Zahndrekh. He serves without any ambition of his own, though some on other worlds consider him the true power behind the throne.

Sometimes he kills openly. Sometimes he lets a conspirator simply disappear, because the quiet terror of an unexplained absence lasts longer. He also tidies up after his master's eccentricities, making sure that "honoured" prisoners are killed while trying to escape. Every few decades another noble tries his luck against Gidrim's overlord, and each time Obyron proves who holds power. Zahndrekh, for his part, is content to leave his Vargard to the work.

Weapons & Vehicles

Warscythe & Hyperphase SwordMelee Weapon

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

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…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (1)

• 
  Nemesor Zahndrekh bodyguard · Necrons

  Obyron has guarded Zahndrekh for millennia.

Factions

• Necrons primary faction

Also in this faction

Anrakyr the TravellerIlluminor SzerasImotekh the StormlordOrikan the DivinerSzarekh, the Silent KingTrazyn the Infinite

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

Legacy

Obyron is the loyal vargard who has guarded Zahndrekh since they were both mortal. He keeps the crownworld of Gidrim stable by quietly correcting his master's delusions behind the scenes. He shows that loyalty and friendship can survive biotransference and the Great Sleep. He shows the Necron capacity for friendship and loyalty, qualities that are rare among the soulless legions. Obyron is the Necrons' rare portrait of loyalty, and of a killer who never tires.

After escaping Cano'var, Kor'sarro Khan returned to Chogoris and had both Zahndrekh and Obyron entered in the White Scars' Scrolls of Vengeance as potential quarry for a future Great Hunt. Obyron's body is armoured necrodermis reinforced with a Sempiternal Weave, threads of phase-hardened amaranthine and adamantium that the sources compare to Terminator armour. His Ghostwalk Mantle was made for him by Gidrim's foremost Psychomancer, the Dagon of the Shadowed Matrix. Unlike an ordinary Veil of Darkness, it can pull him out of the middle of a melee and return him to Zahndrekh's side.

Appearances & sources

• Codex: Necrons