Tomb World

A Tomb World is one of the worlds across the Milky Way Galaxy where the ancient xenos known as the Necrons chose to go into hibernation over 60 million standard years ago, deep beanth its surface in their specially prepared catacombs and tombs. Many Tomb Worlds are now a part of the Imperium of Man and their status as a Necron Tomb World remains unknown until the Necrons beneath its surface begin to awaken, much to the detriment of all life on the planet. An unknown number of these planets exist across the galaxy in the 41st Millennium. Some Tomb Worlds were once the settled worlds of the ancient Necrontyr species that eventually became the cybernetic Necrons after their enslavement by the C'tan, and Necrontyr ruins are sometimes found on or beneath the surfaces of such worlds. Many Necron Tomb Worlds are now desert worlds, largely lifeless and barren. Whether this is a result of the Necrons choosing to hibernate on the planet or whether such climates were the preferred homeworlds of the Necrontyr civilisation, is unknown. Many of these worlds are often the sites of archeological expeditions carried out by Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator teams looking to uncover ancient xenos or STC technologies or Rogue Trader expeditions hoping to turn a profit from what they discover. Many of these exploratory teams are never heard from again once they begin to explore Necrontyr ruins that inevitably lead them to the tombs of the dormant Necrons that lie beneath the sands.

The Necrons' underground tombs are generally quite large and cavernous, containing repair facillities that are manned by Tomb Spyder robots that repair the Necrons that were critically damaged in recent battles. They have stasis units, in which the dormant Necrons hibernate. They also usually have a large room in which either the Necron Lord that commands the Tomb World (occasionally called a Platinum Lord or a Tomb Lord) or one of the four remaining C`tan sleep in a massive, ornate, black stone sarcophagus.

The list of known Tomb Worlds in the Imperium is delineated below: