Necrons

Overview
In the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, the Necrons are a mysterious robot-like race that have lain dormant and unknown by the other races of the universe for millions of years, and are reemerging in the distant future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

The Necrontyr
Very little is known about the origins or the ancient race known as the Necrontyr. They are one of the earliest sentient races in the galaxy, older than even the ancient Eldar, appearing only a few million years after the birth of the stars. Their world was scourged by the radiation of the massive, violent star it closely orbited, cursing them to drastically short lifespans. The Necrontyr spent aeons expanding their technology in an attempt to extend their lives. Their technology developed Necrodermis, a "living metal", for constructing their ships with which they were able to leave their planet. These slow "tomb ships" full of cryonically frozen Necrontyr were sent to populate the stars. It was during their first difficult steps out into the wider galaxy that the Necrontyr first encountered the Old Ones. The differences between the two races were vast; where the Necrontyr had short painful lives, the Old Ones were blessed with incredible longevity, where the Necrontyr were impatient, the Old Ones were infinitely understanding and patient beyond measure.

The Necrontyr grew bitter and jealous towards the Old Ones, and it was not long before this jealousy lead the Necrontyr into a futile war against the Old Ones' civilization. The Old Ones were powerful psykers and had an unmatched mastery of the webway. These significant advantages won out over the Necrontyr's superior technology. The scientists studying the Necrontyr home star had discovered a being of incredible power feeding off its massive energy output. The full weight of Necrontyr science was put behind detailing this discovery and in realizing the potential implications such incredible power might have won the war against the Old Ones. It was not long before similar beings were discovered and they were collectively called the C'tan (literally "Star Gods" in their language). This was the beginning of the seduction and downfall of the Necrontyr. This was the time of the creation of the C'tan slave army, the Necrons.

C'Tan
The Necrontyr created living metal shells for the formless C'tan to inhabit, coaxing them into the material universe. As the awesome power of the C'tan became material, the Necrontyr began to see these new beings not as guests, but as gods. The Necrontyr began to worship the C'tan as such, wanting them to destroy their hated enemies, the Old Ones. The first C'tan to pass into a living metal shell was "The Nightbringer". He began to harvest the sweet life force of the Necrontyr. It was only after considerable persuasion that the Necrontyr were able to bring to the Nightbringer's attention the Old Ones. The Death God found the Old Ones much more to his liking, and agreed to help the Necrontyr combat their hated enemies.

Soon after, the Necrontyr made contact with a second Star God, "The Deceiver". Far more cunning and insidious, the Deceiver promised the Necrontyr eternal life in living metal bodies, built for combat, and assured them victory against the Old Ones.

The Necrontyr agreed to the process and their souls were transferred into bodies made of living metal. However, the transformation dulled their minds and senses. As such they became the warrior-slaves of the C'tan, harvesting life across the galaxy for souls to feed them.

Later, In need of Vehicle support the Third C'tan rose under the name of the Void Dragon giving them greater advantages to fulfill their promise.

As their universal conquest grew the Necrons were given support from the most powerful C'tan yet. The Outsider and the Master. These C'tan gave aircraft, (The Scarabs), and leadership, (The Necron Lords), that completed their quest to feed them all the souls in the universe.

The Enslavers
After countless years of slaughter, and the destruction of the Old Ones, as well as most of the lesser races they created, there was little life left in the galaxy. The countless rifts into the warp caused by their battles allowed various powerful entities to pass through, most dangerous of all being the Enslavers. The Enslavers killed billions. Though they had no effect on the C'tan or the Necrons the toll on the C'Tans food source was immense and the C'Tan withdrew into stasis tombs to be guarded by their immortal slaves. There they would wait for close to 60 million years, until the Enslavers had left and the galaxy was teeming with life again.

Awakening
Now, many millions of years after the Enslaver plague, the Necrons and their masters have finally awoken to reclaim the galaxy, and now begin, once again, to herd the living as their cattle. The deathly silent ranks of the Necrons stalk forth across countless worlds, to reassert their masters' rule and once again inspire fear in the living.

Necrons in M41
The Necrons are still a shadowy presence rather than a full-fledged force. They strike out of nowhere without warning, wreak havoc and leave before any major reinforcements can arrive. The origins of these various attacks and their motives are unknown, though it is known that the current Necron forces in the galaxy are only harvesters, not the full fledged fighting machines of the C'tan.

They attack from nowhere, to any spot in the galaxy. Once, they touched down on Mars, passing by the fleets protecting the Solar System unnoticed, and ultimately casting doubt on the impregnable status of Holy Terra itself. This incident, however, is a heavily guarded secret within the Imperium. At the same time, the Imperium has been unable to capture a Necron in an attempt to learn their secrets; entire Necron forces simply vanish into thin air - taking their dead with them.

The Necron forces come from uncharted tomb-worlds. Their phase technology allows them to deploy anywhere in the galaxy. In defeat, they "phase-out" and return to the tomb-world for repairs. Any Necrons that have fallen in battle can be repaired there and re-animated so their losses thus far have been minimal. Should a Necron be totally annihilated in battle, then they are truly beyond phase-out or repair but again, often so little survives that Imperial and Tau scientists have nothing to work with.

Other than direct battle, the Necrons may have infiltrated the Imperium to an extent. Their elite anti-psyker troops, the Pariah, are an unholy cross of human and Necron. It is as yet unknown if the Necrons developed the Pariah project by themselves or with the help of Imperial traitors (or possibly even Adeptus Mechanicus). But it is known that the C'tan had the Pariah Gene placed in the human genepool several million years ago. This has since manifested itself in the agents of the Culexus temple, specialist anti-psyker assassins.

Necron Forces & Weaponry
See Weapons, equipment, and vehicles of the Necrons for a detailed list of the various weapons and technologies employed by the Necrons.

Necron Characteristics
Most Necrons are tall, skeletal figures made of a living metal which provides excellent protection in battle. It also has the special self-repair effect, which means even heavily damaged Necrons can quickly return to the battle. This ability seems to only work when the Necron is in the vicinity of other Necrons of the same type since the repairing necron needs a ""template" on which to re-create himself.

Another interesting phenomenon is that when a battle has turned strongly against the Necrons, the entire army will simply vanish from the battlefield. This includes even 'dead' Necrons (those who have not yet repaired themselves) and those already engaged in close combat. Because of this, enemy forces like the Imperium have had great difficulty in obtaining Necron artifacts or "corpses" to study.

It should be noted that the terms for the weapons and Necrons that follow are given to them by their opponents, not the Necrons themselves. Aside from the C'tan, the Necrons never communicate to non-Necrons; only the C'tan known as the Deceiver has been observed infrequently communicating with non-Necrons.

Necron Lord:


Necron Lords are the commanders of Necron forces, chosen because of, or perhaps forced into, being one of the few Necrons to retain sentience. They are formidable foes on the battlefield, being quite adept with both ranged and close combat. Due to their special position as "leaders" in the Necron forces, they are often equipped with special wargear. This wargear often increases the effectiveness of other Necrons around the Lord, such as augmenting their healing factor, or allowing them to teleport to crucial points in a battle; other gear carried can increase the Lord's survivability or his prowess in battle. Necron lords are also some of the few Necrons who naturally keep some of their memory from their previous lives. The Necron Destroyer Lord is the upgraded version of the Necron Lord, it floats around the battle field on a Destroyer platform.



Necron Warriors:
Necron Warriors are the backbone of the Necron army. They are numerous and provide strong fire support with their Gauss Flayers. Their 'living metal' bodies allow them to sustain massive damage and continue functioning.

Pariah:
Pariahs represent the true horror of a Necron-ruled galaxy. They are created by fusing Necron technology with human victims who bear the "pariah gene" (a rare and unusual genetic defect in which the bearer lacks any warp presence). Each Pariah is a formidable warrior, especially since they wield deadly warscythes; but they also radiate an unnatural aura which can have a severe unnerving effect upon their enemies, especially psykers. However, since Pariahs are partly human, they lack the incredible healing factor that most other Necrons have.



Immortal:
Those favored Necrontyr who were among the first to give up their flesh and embrace the metal were rewarded by being Immortals. They are more durable, heavy variants of the Warrior and they wield Gauss Blasters.

Flayed One:
Flayed Ones are Necrons who retain some of their original consciousness and have been driven mad by their ageless imprisonment. They are quite capable melee fighters, with claws and blades that can flay a man alive in seconds. They usually adorn themselves with still wet pieces of skin and hide from their latest victims. In such a state, they are a terrifying sight to behold, so much that enemy combatants lose their nerve by their presence, as they see pieces of old squadmates hanging from the undead machines approaching. Flayed Ones also frequently act in a manner similar to scouts, sneaking ahead of the main Necron force or even burying themselves in the ground, and use either method to gain the element of surprise during a battle. (see also Xipe Totec for the cultural reference)

Wraith:
Wraiths are one of the more sophisticated Necron units. They lack legs or a body (except for the spinal cord) and hover over the battlefield, moving at supernatural speeds. They are fearsome close combat warriors, and they can phase in and out during their flight, becoming ghostly figures (thus the name wraith). This phase shift ability allows them to move through solid objects or even to avoid damage. It has been suggested that Wraiths were murderers and psychopaths before their entombment in their cold metal husks.

Destroyer:


Destroyers are Immortals fused to fast and agile hovercraft platforms. Equipped with Gauss Cannons and sophisticated targeting systems which enable them to fire while moving, Destroyers are ideal for hit-and-run attacks or disrupting enemy flanks. They also come in a Heavy Destroyer variant, which is armed with the more powerful Heavy Gauss Cannon, useful for destroying foes with the heaviest armor.

Scarabs:
Countless small, beetle-like robots called Scarabs often appear on the battlefield; these clouds of Scarabs are termed Scarab Swarms by their opponents. These swarms rely on sheer numbers to make themselves difficult to destroy, and are useful for disrupting enemies who are caught unaware.

Tomb Spyder:


Large, spider-like robots which are normally tasked with maintaining the Necron tomb complexes. They sometimes appear on the battlefield, where they make resilient fighters who have limited ability to augment the healing factor of the 'living metal' on nearby Necrons. They also can use their internal systems to manufacture Scarabs in the midst of a battle. However, this has the chance of damaging the Tomb Spyder during creation.

Necron Fleets
While Necron forces are usually land-based, Necron space vessels are not unheard of, though are quite possibly much more common than people realize, and simply not seen. This is supported by the Necrons' terrifying ability to appear anywhere. There are more than two dozen records of Necron contacts in space in Imperial archives, and accounts of other races battling Necron fleets also exist.

Necron technology is beyond anything the galaxy has ever seen, surpassing even that of the highly advanced Eldar. Their ships are stunningly fast and agile, equipped with propulsion systems which are capable of traveling interstellar distances without entering the Warp. This is achieved, as far as is known, by somehow making their ships unbound by inertia, allowing them to accelerate almost instantly and infinitely, which explains why Necron ships are often seen to be visibly decelerating upon reaching the site of battle. This also protects them from many of the practical problems and dangers of warp travel. All Necron ships are well-armored, equipped with self-repair systems and utilize some sort of advanced stealth technology which makes them difficult to detect for enemy targeting systems, granting Necron vessels surprising staying power. Although still devastating, Necron naval weaponry does not seem to match the raw power of some Imperial designs, they are however known to bypass many conventional defense systems, such as void shields and even Eldar holofields, and strike with an unearthly accuracy.

In every battle so far the Necrons could only be defeated by superior numbers, and engaging Necrons on even terms proved to be suicide. Fortunately, all of the Necron fleets encountered so far were small task forces that usually disengaged and phased out like their land-based counterparts, rather than putting up a full fight. But their frequency seems to be increasing and the possibility of a massive Necron attack is dreaded by the Imperium as well as other sentient races. Even as a raiding force, they are a serious threat as they are fully capable of outmaneuvering most other fleets (probably with the exception of Eldar and their dark kin) to pick fights on an even footing. This often leads to catastrophic losses for enemy fleets and forces them to somehow stall with an utterly inferior fighting force for overwhelming reinforcements to arrive, at which point the Necrons simply disengage.

For a list of known Necron spacecraft, see: Weapons, equipment, and vehicles of the Necrons

Necrodermis
Necrodermis is the "living metal" that was the basis of Necrontyr technology. The physical shells that contain the C'tan are made from it as are the Necron metal bodies. The C'tan Phase Sword and C'tan Phase Knife also use Necrodermis. Literally, the name means "corpse skin" (from Greek νεκρος (as discussed earlier) and δερμις, dermis)