Scythe-class Harvest Ship

A Scythe-class Harvest Ship is a type of Necron starship, and appears to have been part of every Necron fleet so far encountered by the Imperium of Man. More common than larger Cairn-class Tomb Ships and more akin to a Cruiser in role, so far all of the Harvest Ships encountered by the Imperium appear to belong to the same class, with the only difference being the inclusion of a Sepulchre-like chamber on some of the starships (though this does not change their outward appearance, nor does it appear to function in the same manner as those observed on Tomb Ships). Whether this is universally true is unknown, though it may well be the case considering the uniform appearance and design of virtually all Necron Warriors that have been encountered so far. Although Harvest Ships appear lightly built at a glance compared to the solid designs used by the Imperium, these looks are highly deceptive and the vessels have proved to be incredibly resilient and difficult to destroy. So far there are only three cases in the past of Imperial ships being able to disable a harvest ship, and in all three cases it required the firepower of several capital ships to achieve the feat. The Harvest Ship’s resilient design combined with its armament of sophisticated and devastatingly effective Necron weaponry makes them a match for all but the largest Imperial spacecraft.

As with all known Necron vessels, Harvest Ships possess Inertialess Drives that make the ship capable of interstellar travel without the need to enter the Warp, instead using advanced technology that makes the craft inertialess and able to travel at extreme speeds and with extreme acceleration, whilst also giving the spacecraft an agility that few other ships can match. Harvest Ships are also made nearly entirely out of Necrodermis, a unique sentient metal with which nearly every Necron is constructed out of. The material’s regenerative properties and hardy nature means that Harvest Ships are immune to the detrimental effects posed by celestial phenomena such as solar flares, radiation, gas clouds and nebulae, and are also able to repair their armour at a rapid pace during an engagement. However, standard Necron combat protocol dictates that a clean disengagement is preferable than a fight to the end, and Harvest Ships will do this by ‘fading out’, where the vessel in question dematerialises and drops out of normal space; taking it out of the battle.

Notable Encounters

 * 666.M41 Yuctan Incident – A Necron fleet raiding the system of Yuctan is encountered by a nearby Imperial Navy patrol that had been refuelling and restocking. Squadron Farsight is destroyed, and numerous Harvest Ships implicated in the incident.
 * 962.M41 Bora Culpa Incident – Harvest Ships were sighted around the Imperial planet of Bora Culpa. The population was found to be vanished after a later recon by Space Wolves Space Marines.
 * 992.M41 Orphean War – During the Orphean War, at least twenty Scythe-class Harvest Ships, as identified using data from the Ordo Xenos, were encountered by Battlefleet Orpheus. Belonging to Kutlakh the World Killer (who was the Phaeron of the Maynarkh Dynasty), they destroyed many times their number in Imperial ships and basically shattered Battlefleet Orpheus by the time they had disengaged.

Armament
Some Harvest Ships have been known to be upgraded with a:
 * Star Pulse Generator – A Star Pulse Generator sends out a massive pulse of energy when activated. Whilst other Necron ships are shielded from this attack, enemy ships within the field of force’s radius are usually severely damaged if not destroyed outright by the immense energies released.
 * Lightning Arc Batteries – Lightning Arcs use stored solar energy and, when activated, release it as a forest of living energy tendrils which envelop targets and probing for weaknesses. Lightning Arcs act as the main weapon batteries for Necron ships, but are different from other race equivalents in that the arcs they fire are able to split up and guide themselves into their own targets, allowing for a mass-strike ability like no other. A Lightning Arc battery is usually able to cover all angles of approach except for the rear.
 * Particle Whip Batteries – Particle Whips are the preferred ranged weapon of Necron ships, and work by projecting a magnetic field across a short arc. This arc is sufficient to be ‘cracked’ like a whip and the anti-matter particles within detonate upon impact with matter. When a target is hit, the beam’s power acts in a similar way to a strike from a Lightning Arc, albeit focussed upon a smaller area like a Lance weapon. A Particle Whip battery is usually able to cover all angles of approach except for the rear.
 * Portal – Portals vast stone gateways within a Necron ship, and are able to be used for boarding enemy vessels. More precise than conventional Imperial teleporters, they are most commonly used to flood enemy ships with a relentless host of Necron Warriors and swarms of Canoptek Scarabs.
 * Sepulchre – Only utilised by the largest Necron vessel in a fleet, when a Sepulchre is used to attack an enemy ship that has foolishly come within range, a wave of palpable psychic force is generated and sent outwards in all directions. The enemy’s crew are then paralysed by visions of horror, and if discipline is lost then the crazed crew are likely to do damage to their own ship as they rampage uncontrollably.