Dynasty of Nul Gallery and Lore (Patreon)

Every month BattleYak Miniatures will release a new Battle Pack, featuring 3D printable miniature files! The Battle Pack for October is the Dynasty of Nul, an army of undying warriors animated by magic-powered necrotechnology! October's pack includes modular weapons, tons of customization options, bonus figures, and more!

Become a Patron now and gain access to the Dynasty of Nul here!

Now please enjoy this gallery of the Dynasty of Nul miniatures and a glimpse into the lore behind the faction!

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"Men may die. Empires may fall. Seas may dry and forests wither. Stars may burn out and all worlds grow cold. In the end all things shall perish. But my Dynasty is eternal."
-Dynast-King Khaeron Necrophades

Out of the frozen wastes of the north they march, skull-faced soldiers with shells of cold, hard metal. Their tread cracking the ice underfoot, they stride unaffected through howling winds that would slay a mortal with killing cold. Rank upon rank they march in endless multitudes, never stopping to rest or take shelter. Their weapons hum with arcane force, their bodies garlanded in writhing necromantic mists. They are the lethal instruments of the Everliving Nobility, the manifest will of the Dynast-King. They are the Undying Legions of the One True Everlasting Civilization - the Dynasty of Nul.

For thousands of years, the monarchs of the Dynasty of Nul have ruled, fueling their never-ending reign through the use of necrotechnology - the art of raising the dead with a blend of machinery and arcane magic. They reign in the far north, in the frozen realm of Uhmber, a vast and mountainous region of frigid peaks and dark valleys where winter never ends. These lands were different long ago, home to many thriving and prosperous nations, petty monarchs and noble houses vying endlessly amongst themselves for land, glory, and status. In an age now all but lost to memory, the House of Nul, a minor noble house given to studies of magic and alchemy, made a monumental discovery. By distilling the abundant mystical energy of Vril, the sorcerer-alchemists of the House of Nul learned to create a substance known as necrogen, the elixir of eternal life that grants the imbiber immortality... at the cost of giving up their living body and existing as an undead. 

With the power of this dark miracle at their command, the House of Nul discarded the practice of petty politicking and began a campaign of conquest, subduing all their rivals with unliving armies and laying the foundations of their eternal Dynasty. The longer the monarchs of the Dynasty of Nul endure, the more necrogen they must consume to prolong their undeath, and it must be of the purest quality to prevent their bodies from decaying. When their physical forms fail, they are replaced with necrotech prosthetics, but their writhing spirits remain eternally hungry for more life. Those of noble birth are known as the Everliving Nobility, the greatest among them known as Dynasts and High-Dynasts. The supreme ruler is known as the Dynast-King, His Undying Majesty Khaeron Necrophades. 

The military of the Dynasty of Nul is known as the Undying Legion, or simply the Undying. They enjoy greater privilege than the lower labor classes. Oaths of loyalty and necrogenic sorcery bind them subserviently to the ruling classes. The lowest ranks of the military are the Risen Legionnaires, soldiers whose living essence is bound into simple but advanced necro-frame bodies of cold metal. Bereft of most conscious thought, the Risen Legionnaires retain just enough intellect to follow orders and carry out military actions. They are led into combat by the Eternal Legionnaires, higher ranking officers that possess a glimmer more of rational thought to better enable them to react on the field of battle.

The towering Thanacron Immortals represent a far more advanced form of Dynasty warrior. In life, they were warriors whose bloodline and breeding were judged to be of supreme quality, often tracing back to some member of the Eternal Nobility. They are given extensive training and preparation before being elevated in undeath, equipped with the towering Thanacron necro-frames, enormous bodies possessing advanced necrotechnology. They retain a far higher degree of intellect than the lower soldiery, often rising to command entire legions through attaining the rank of Eternity Warden. All Dynasty necro-frames are powered by implanted necrogen reactors, the humming engines fueled by the substance of eternal life. Energy from these engines of death courses through limbs and into weapons, empowering the undying warriors to tireless feats of war.

The Dynasty of Nul blends the art of science and sorcery together into a harmony few other civilizations can hope to even approach. The cosmic energy of Vril, abundant throughout the world, is molded and distilled to produce necrogen, a vaporous substance that allows for the binding of living souls into unliving vessels. The Dynasty retains the ancient practice of necrotechnomancy through the Nulcron Synod, the oldest institution in Dynasty history. The Nulcron Death-Magisters use their sorcerous technology to amplify the necrogenic power of the Undying Legions, allowing damaged or destroyed warriors to repair and reanimate themselves, rising once again to strike down the enemy that laid them low. The vaporous necrogenic mists that swirl around the Death-Magisters often adopt frightful and disturbing forms, as if the very souls of the dead were writhing in pain and terror, desperate to escape but doomed to be bound back into their prisons of cold, undying metal.

The living still dwell in Uhmber in great multitudes, toiling to realize the vision of their undying rulers. The peasantry of Uhmber worship their monarchs as living gods, and they dream of serving them eternally in undeath. In reality, whenever the lower classes are deemed worthy of undeath at all, they are raised with unpurified necrogen and more basic necrotech, rendering them little more than near-mindless puppets with no thought but service to their masters. Still, even the lowest Dynasty serf sees an eternal existence as an unthinking slave to their monarchs to be a grand and noble goal, and the living humbly serve in anticipation of the reward of undeath.

For ages the Dynasty reigned in the north, content with refining their vast never-changing civilization. Scorning contact with the other nations of the world, whom they see as little more than barbarian nuisances unworthy of eternal life even as slaves, the Dynasty remained within the confines of their realm. However, in recent ages, as the undying monarchs of Uhmber were forced to consume more and more necrogen to maintain their existence, it was discovered that the natural deposits of Vril energy in the north have begun to ebb, consumed by the rulers of the Dynasty faster than it can naturally replenish. Without the precious Vril they need to produce necrogen, the Dynasty has at last decided to turn its attentions outwards.

The Undying Legions march to bring the entire world under the dominion of their masters, so that reign of the Dynasty of Nul may be truly eternal...
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