Hexis and the Lysis system

The Lysis system was once a major hub of the Bahotek Dynasty but after the war with the old ones, the eldar and the C'tan the Bahotek Dynasty went into long term hibernation along with the rest of the necron race. Lysis, with its main world Hexis, fell into ruins. In the millenia that followed Hexis became home to multiple races, but the human colony established on the surface was wiped out by a shift in the sun's orbit in M32, at the same time as the appearance of the Hadron warps storms which separated the region from the rest of the Imperium. The system then drifted inexorably towards the hadron Deeps and now lies in a region that is extremely close to the Cicatrix Maledictum, an area of warp-realspace overlap.

 

Lysis is very difficult to get to. Warp storms rage all around the system preventing all but the smallest craft steered by the most skilled navigators from getting close without proximity beacons. Even the forces of chaos have difficulty locating the system reliably and multiple false echoes often spell doom for anyone unable to discern the real system's presence.

 

In a tomb complex deep beneath the ruins of Hexis' once continent spanning cities, now covered in dust and sand from centuries of desicating winds, the original civilisation lies dormant. Beneath even that, there is a chamber containing the necron "device", an arcane and ancient artefact which has powers over the warp which no other race, even the eldar, fully understand.

 

There are five of these devices, all created by the Bahotek and Harakhty dynasties when the galaxy was young. Part of an experiment to reduce the necron's need for the webway, the devices are cylindrical jet black constructions on which can be seen faint veins of irridescant green. The surface of each monolith, which is approximately the size of a small shuttle, is impossibly smooth and perfectly cylindrical, manufactured to a level of precision unheard of to the imperium of man. It's surface is also harder than all known materials and attempting to destroy the device results in the necron artefact simply disappearing only to reappear somewhere else. Once activated however, the devices can be controlled to emit jets of energy into the warp, pushing it away from realspace in a corridor, causing the Foramen across the Cicatrix Maledictum.

 

One such device exists at Corticant under the constant vigilance of the astartes and adeptus mechanicus, holding open the Foramen Majoris and Foramen Minoris - the latter being an error by Vorushko's agents as they had no idea how to control the creation of such conduits. Never-the-less these are the primary openings allowing the Imperium to continue to communicate with their worlds in the Perseus Deeps and nearby Imperium Nihilis.

 

A second device is active at Einmyrria, switched on by the tau after the eldar of Kel Sandros located the key and the means to activate it. Eldar, being psychic, cannot approach the device itself, as any psyker coming within twenty feet is instantly killed and their soul sucked into the device. This is the reason for the device's other name - the "soul hole".

 

The third device or original "soul hole" is partially active and under the control of Warsmith Stahl. Discovered by the chaos daemon prince "Moonface" the device was used to transport troops across the galaxy after being figured out by Moonface's patron god Tzeetch. Stahl now controls this device and uses it to avoid always needing a fleet, although even the mechanicum under the Iron Warrior's leader have no real idea how it works.

 

The fourth device is currently in the possession of the inquisition and in stasis. Originally the device had been captured by the Tau, who were working with the Federacy on a way to use it to power a defence shield using human psykers. These actions were found out by agents of Vorushko. Upon trying to destroy the device it disappeared, but they were able to relocate it in a space hulk and remove the item by ship. Now the Adeptus Mechanicum and the Ordo Xenos are investigating the item, thought it appears dormant. The fifth and final device is on Hexis in the Lysis system.

 

The activation of the fifth device is only possible at the right time under the right alignment of stars and planets. Then, with the application of the necron key, the predicted "Foramen Ignotum" can then be created by the device. With the right knowledge, this beam of energy into the warp can be directed, so the location of the Foramen can be decided by those who control the device with the right knowledge. Furthermore the device could be stolen, although this would require the arrival of significant forces and control of the ancient cities of Hexis. To deploy significant forces, the factions must send small scouting teams and set up homing beacons or otherwise find a way to direct their larger forces to the planet, in time for the celestial conjunction or before it, and prevent the other factions from doing so.