The last few years have not been kind to the planet of Necromunda – first, it was plunged into months of darkness as the Great Rift opened and crippled the planet’s great industries. Then, just as soon as the Great Darkness began to subside, the Imperial governor Lord Helmawr was assassinated,* giving way immediately to a bloody war for control.
This is the Aranthian Succession, a bitter conflict told by the latest series of narrative supplements. The final instalment – Ruins of Jardlan – is coming to pre-orders this Saturday, so it’s time to find out what’s led to this crisis.
It began with an assassin driving a power blade into the heart of Gerontius Helmawr. Quite who had sent the killer was unknown, but it quickly became clear that Lord Helmawr hadn’t left instructions for his own succession, and dozens of his children leaped to declare themselves the rightful ruler of Necromunda – enlisting underhive gangs to do their dirty work and secure their power base.
However, another player entered the game. An alliance between House Escher and the mysterious Lady Credo soon sparked an uprising that flared up across Necromunda, as secret supporters and rebel gangs chipped away at House Helmawr’s power. Fighting soon spread out into the ash wastes, centred on the vital north-south intersection of Cinderak City, where House Goliath gangs sought to conquer the settlement and free themselves from a slow starving inflicted by Echer’s grip on Hive Primus trade routes.
While Ciderak City burned, the competition for the seat of House Helmawr reached an inflection point: Lady Haera Helmawr – cruel, deadly, and 13th in line to the throne – orchestrated the assassination of a dozen of her siblings and secured her place on the throne of Necromunda. Even as the rebel gangs sought to bring down the Imperial House, the new de facto ruler sought to quell her domain with overwhelming force and brutality.
In the end, it was Lady Credo and her Escher allies who seized control of Cinderak City, thereby cutting House Helmawr’s control over the Palatine Cluster. This mysterious noble disappeared as soon as the city fell, and thousands of displaced residents were forced to strike out across the wastes to escape the ensuing violence, where they were met by a man known only as the Prophet.
Soon, a colossal pilgrimage had formed around this magnetic preacher, convinced that the Emperor’s divine light shone through him. Outlaw Redemptionist gangs, dispossessed scum, and pilgrims in their thousands clustered around the Prophet before setting off in a gruelling march towards Hive Primus.
Not content to let this rabble threaten the heart of Necromunda, Lady Haera called upon hundreds of Enforcer precincts to suppress this crusade, only to learn that their destination was not the Palatine cluster at all – but rather the cathedral hive of Tenemos. Now numbering in the millions, the column of fanatics fell prey to the innumerable dangers of the ash wastes, but carried on regardless.
The Prophet himself continued to preach the word of his Lost Saint, and as they reached the walls of Temenos, even many of the Enforcers defending the hive had taken up the torch. Cardinal Ahrmund – head of the Imperial Cult on Necromunda – was among the converts, and threw open the city gates as the Great Pilgrimage approached. The vaults below were finally within the Prophet’s reach.
None could predict what would emerge from the vaults beneath Temenos. In a shining, perfect metal body, Ozostium, the ancient master of the fallen House Aranthus, rose from the darkness. Lady Credo and the Prophet had found their master, and in just a few short cycles the immortal lord had bent the entirety of Hive Temenos to his will.
Swearing to enact his revenge on ‘House Helm’ayr’, Ozostium Aranthus awakened sleeper cells across the planet, and soon entire armies of white-clad soldiers with archeotech weapons were seen marching through the hives and wastes. Combined with the embedded agents of Lady Credo, these mysterious devotees began tearing down what little remained of Imperial power on Necromunda, severing alliances and burning factorums.
While chaos engulfs the hives, the notorious bounty hunter and wayward offspring of Gerontius Helmawr, Kal Jericho, took the chance to abscond with the stasis casket in which his not-quite-dead father lay. In nothing short of a miracle, he made off with his prize despite the intervention of Lady Haera herself, though in his haste to leave the Palatine Spire he left a single security door yawning wide open.**
Now, as we approach the final chapter of the Aranthian Succession, things are looking dire indeed for House Helmawr. Lady Haera is shut up in her hive behind layers of defences, the Prophet’s word infests every hive on Necromunda, and an ancient enemy of unbelievable power walks the planet once more.
In this time of catastrophic chaos, there’s still plenty of fame and fortune to be made for enterprising gangs, and you’ll have your work cut out keeping on the right side of history when the true succession dawns. Make sure to pick up your own copy of Ruins of Jardlan to see this epic tale reach its explosive conclusion.
* Spoilers: They don’t quite finish the job.
** We’re sure this won’t become an important plot point later.