Flayed One

"Through technology we thought to defeat the natural order. But the onset of eternity cannot be denied forever: the universe will see us humbled for our presumption. Yet its methods of attack are limited. We long ago removed our bodies from mortality's grasp and bartered away our souls for technological baubles and the trappings of power. Our minds, then, are all that remains for us to lose, and it is here that the next stroke against us will fall. Though our individual afflictions may take different forms, sooner or later we will all be lost to madness."

- Szarekh, Last of the Silent Kings

Flayed Ones are twisted and ghoulish terrors that act as specialised close combat troops who appear apparently from nowhere to join Necron armies in battles, although never by invitation from the Necrons themselves. These loathsome creatures were once Necrontyr whom managed to retain some of their original consciousness when they were transferred into their living metallic bodies of Necrodermis, but were cursed with a terrible disease, manifesting a hunger for flesh that cannot be satisfied and that eventually drove them into madness. Advancing before the Necron force, these stooped yet terrifyingly agile automatons excel at infiltrating and spreading terror like a plague within the ranks of their foes. They are quite capable melee fighters, and make use of flensing blades that extend from their fingers that can flay a man alive in seconds. Thin and wiry, they habitually adorn themselves with the still-wet pieces of skin and hide they have stripped from their victims, leaving behind the skinned corpses to sow fear and confusion. In such a state they are a terrifying sight to behold, so much so that enemy combatants lose their nerve when they see pieces of old squadmates hanging from the undying machines approaching their lines. In addition to their wicked claws, some Flayed Ones utilise Necron Disruption Field technology that allows them to rip even armoured vehicles apart.

History
Flayed Ones are victims of a terrible madness, a curse bestowed upon them by a C'tan: Llandu'gor, the Flayer. When the Necrons finally turned against the C'tan in the last days of the War In Heaven, the Flayer was destroyed by the Necrons: not simply splintered as were his brothers, but utterly obliterated. In his dying moments, the Star God inflicted a terrible curse upon the Necrons, tainting them with an echo of the fathomless hunger of its essence.

For aeons the Flayer's curse went unnoticed and unseen. By the time the true madness of the condition began to manifest, the afflicted Necrons had travelled far and wide, unwittingly spreading the disease to a thousand worlds. A Necron on whom the flayer curse has taken hold undergoes a slow and tortuous erosion of its sanity. Despite being a soulless machine, it begins to revel in the bloody ruin of fleshy foes, driven to take trophies of skin, sinew and bone. As the Flayer madness intensifies, its victim is compelled by the uncontrollable desire to consume the flesh of its enemies. As a robotic construct, it cannot digest flesh in any sense, but is still driven to gorge itself in a doomed attempt to sate an unquenchable lust. Physical changes occur shortly thereafter: their forms become stooped, their fingers extend to long, razor sharp flensing talons. The Necron's form warps into what is recognisable as the corrupt and grotesque form of a Flayed One. Ultimately this accursed Necron disappears, drawn by an unknown instinct into a pocket dimension of their own, to dwell forever amidst the charnel palaces of the Flayed Ones.

Other Necrons loathe the Flayed ones, for they fear they will contract the terrible disease they carry. Any Necron suspected of harbouring the Flayer infection is banished or destroyed before it can become contagious. However, the Necrons can never prevent a pack of Flayed Ones joining a battle already underway -- they can materialise from their pocket dimension at any time, hunting in search of blood and carnage. They will commonly attack with little regard for strategy, wreathed in the dense stench of rotting flesh. They are not suicidal, however. If the enemy is strong, they will await the perfect moment to attack; if the enemy flees, they rarely pursue, preferring to feast upon the flesh of the fallen.

Necron Overlords rarely make an attempt to adapt their plans for the unwanted and unexpected appearance of the Flayed Ones on the battlefield, instead accepting any advantage their presence brings. Despite this, it is common for an Overlord to order execution of any Flayed One survivors after the battle has been won. None but the most insane of these ghoulish beings is destroyed so easily. The rest slip back to their pocket dimensions and their palaces of rotting flesh, laden with new trophies of dismembered corpses and reeking of fresh blood.

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