Kryptaestrex
Kryptaestrex is a Tech-Priest Dominus from Mars who is one of the few of the Adeptus Mechanicus to claim mastery over how the power of the Warp helps devices designed for traveling through or peering into its screaming depths function. He has perfected this craft in the shipyards of Mars, where he researched the mysterious workings of warp engines and geller fields and would often accompany expeditions to recover these arterfacts from wrecks and space graveyards. It was on one such expedition to the Gothic Sector, that Kryptaestrex first became aware of the Webway and its portals; as during a bitter conflict with Eldar Corsairs, he witnessed the Xenos appearing as if from nowhere and then vanishing just as abruptly. Fascinated by the phenomenon, Kryptaestrex began hunting out more examples of this technology and spent years leading costly expeditions to ruined worlds, in order to find more Webway Portals. With the Adeptus Mechanicus forces at his command, the Dominus crushed anyone who stood in the way of his goal: be they Xenos empires, hostile human settlements and even the forces of other Forge Worlds. Every scrap of the Webway Portals he discovered, were then brought back to Mars for his research, but Kryptaestrex eventually concluded he needed to observe the portals in action; to fully understand how they functioned.[1]
So the Dominus began searching for worlds that where the favoured raiding grounds for the various factions of the Eldar and he then waited for the Xenos to appear. When they did, Kryptaestrex would lead his forces in an attempt to capture the acitve Webway Portal the Xenos were using, but he failed in each attempt. The closest he came to entering a Webway Portal was during a battle with the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Bloody Storm, on Forlos III; which resulted in his capture by the Kabal. Much to Kryptaestrex annoyance however, he was rescued by his forces before the retreating Kabal could drag him into the Webway Portal. It was finally on the Swamp World Exhubris II though, that the Dominus' luck changed; after he answered a plea for aid from a Stygies VIII Explorator Fleet. However, it was not loyalty to his fellow Adeptus Mechanicus brethren, that drove Kryptaestrex to aid them, but rather that they were being attacked by Eldar who had emerged from numerous Webway Portals. With another opportunity to reach his goal so close at hand, the Dominus' forces soon descended upon Exhubris II and began overwhelming the Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwé. Soon the Eldar were forced to retreat back to their Webway Portals and what remained of the Stygies VIII Explorator Fleet's forces was saved. More importantly to Kryptaestrex however, was that his forces had managed to capture an active Webway Portal before the Ulthwé Eldar were able to close it behind them. The Dominus is now intently studying his captured Webway Portal and hopes to be able to recreate the energies that make it function - or if nothing else, learn how to easily destroy any further Portals he comes across.[1]
