Armatus Necrotechnica

The Armatus Necrotechnica was a ancient and poqerful device utilized by Loyalist and Traitor forces during the events of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.

These secret devices of necro-technic engineering were among the fel technologies once bound within the sealed vaults of Ferrus Manus. Outside of the Iron Hands Legion, the knowledge of their very existence was limited to prohibited circles of the Emperor's own household and used as part of the construction of the warlord-sinister Psi-Titans.

This technology is capable of harnessing the stolen energy of sentient life to power engines of mechanical destruction and repair.

How they were later spread is unknown, but must surely have involved the defection or capture of high-ranking Terran artificers from the Imperial Palace or the secretive tech-clades of Luna, for it is thought improbable that even those Iron Fathers who raided the Vaults of Mimir would dare to unleash such dark techno-heresy upon the galaxy. Whatever their origin, these foul technologies were witnessed on several battlefields as the Horus Heresy drew towards its climax, both on Traitor armour and among the ranks of Ferrus Manus' grief-maddened sons.

History
A vast panoply of the arcane exists within the galaxy, spread far and wide on the worlds and in the fleets of Mankind and the Outsider. Attempting to apply a classification or category based on a single shared property of all of these relics, tangible and intangible, is a nigh-on impossible task, for they are myriad in form and use. The term 'psyarkana' is used in lieu of such a classification, and is considered to be a catch-all term to refer to ill-understandable and ill-definable items or practices, often of ancient or mysterious provenance. Broadly though, psyarkana fall into two groups: techno-arcana and esoterica.

Techno-arcana are usually strange relics and devices based upon what can be loosely understood to function through technological and scientific means, though rarely can these means be reproduced. Such items, be they human or xenos in origin, are recovered from lost civilisations, discovered in the darkest reaches of space or, under the rarest circumstances, created by the artifices of the Imperium. They can be potent archaeotechstamped from those STCs which survived the Age of Strife or alien artifices which predate the evolution of Mankind entirely. Esoterica, however, often refers to intangible rituals, practices and powers as found in ancient manuscripts which are not easily understood. Often these are wielded through psychic or arcane means, and are suggested to interact in some respect with the currents of the Warp, though this is not confirmed to be true in all cases. Whatever the truth behind such arcane articles, all produce effects contrary to our grasp of the order of nature.

Many arcane technologies and strange devices were recovered during the Great Crusade, both relics of Mankind's lost endeavours from the Dark Age of Technology and the product of alien minds and cultures now lost to history. Of these relics few now remain, most were destroyed by the Legiones Astartes as they advanced across the galaxy, deemed too dangerous or profane to remain in human hands. However, some yet survive, either taken as trophies or consigned to the vaults of the Legions or the laboratories of the Mechanicum. In particular, the Iron Hands and their master, Ferrus Manus, proved prolific in their acquisition and subsequent interment of powerful and dangerous relics, a number of which would reemerge after their keeper's death.

During the Horus Heresy, desperation led many to wield psyarkana they little understood or could scarcely control. Those organisations previously forbidden from making use of dangerous techno-arcana, particularly amongst the Mechanicum and Iron Hands Legion, would continue to covet these strange technologies. Those who had once searched for proscribed esoterica, experimenting with their knowledge in secret would go on to openly embrace it. Many would wage their own campaigns contrary to the orders of both the Warmaster and the Emperor to take possession of psyarkana at the height of the Age of Darkness. The use of these psyarkana relics carried with it the risk of terrible consequence, or else irrevocably tainted the user. Regardless, such rituals and devices were sought after by every faction of the Horus Heresy and frequently changed ownership; pried from the lifeless hands of the vanquished.