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 intelligent races of the Milky Way Galaxy for millions of years, and are reemerging in the distant future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They are a humanoid species of great technological prowess, but out of a desire for vengeance against the more fortunate race called the Old Ones, and the trickery of the godlike entities born from the stars known as the C'tan, they shed their organic forms and lost all forms of compassion and empathy, and became ruthless killing machines.

History
The Necrons were once a powerful humanoid species called the Necrontyr. They were one of the earliest sentient races to evolve in the galaxy, older than even the ancient Eldar.

The Necrontyr
Very little is known about the origins of 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 formation of the Milky Way Galaxy. Their world was scourged by the radiation of the massive, violent star it closely orbited, cursing them to suffer from drastically shortened lifespans. The Necrontyr spent aeons expanding their technology in an attempt to extend their lives. Their efforts ultimately developed Necrodermis, a "living metal", for constructing starships with which they were able to leave their planet. These slow "tomb ships" full of cryogenicaly frozen Necrontyr were sent to populate new worlds among the stars where the environment would prove far more conducive to harmonius lives. It was during their first difficult steps out into the wider galaxy that the Necrontyr first encountered the even more ancient sentient species now known to the Eldar and humanity only as the Old Ones. The differences between the two races were vast; where the Necrontyr led short painful lives, the Old Ones were blessed with incredible longevity. Where the Necrontyr were agressive and 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 through the Immaterium that they had created to provide istantaneous transportation and communications between their myriad interstellar colonies. These significant advantages won out over the Necrontyr's superior technology. Following their bitter defeat at the hands of the Old Ones, Necrontyr scientists studying the Necrontyr home star had discovered an intelligent being composed of pure energy and possessed of incredible power feeding off the unstable star's massive energy output. It was this entity's feeding which had led to the Necrontyr star's unstable blasts of radiation that had so shortened the Necrontyr's life spans. The full weight of Necrontyr science was put behind further investigating this discovery and in realizing that harnessing the incredible power of this entity might have won the war against the Old Ones. It was not long before similar beings were discovered in other stars across the galaxy and they were collectively called the C'tan (literally "Star Gods" in the Necrontyr language). This was the beginning of the seduction and downfall of the Necrontyr and their transformation into the slave army of the C'tan, the Necrons.

C'Tan
To aid the C'tan, the Necrontyr created living metal shells from their advanced necrodermis material for the formless Star Gods to inhabit, coaxing them into the material universe. As the awesome power of the C'tan became able to interact with matter, 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 use their power to destroy their hated enemies, the Old Ones. The first C'tan to pass into a living metal shell was called "the Nightbringer". He began to harvest the sweet life force of the Necrontyr, which was much more "tasty" to the C'tan then the stale but plentiful energy given off by stars. 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' potent life forces much more to his liking, and agreed to help the Necrontyr combat their hated enemies.

Soon after, the Necrontyr made contact with another Star God, called "the Deceiver". Far more cunning and insidious than the Nightbringer, the Deceiver promised the Necrontyr that they would enjoy eternal life in bodies they constructed out of their living metal, bodies built for combat, and assured them that these shells would provide final victory against the Old Ones.

The Necrontyr agreed to undergo the process and their consciousnesses were transferred into bodies made of the living metal necrodermis. Whenever the warrior was killed on the battlefield, their bodies were teleported back to their home base for repair, as a Necrontyr's consciousness was now actually bound into the atomic structure of the necrodermis and could not be extingusihed from the material universe as long as some fragment of their bodies remained intact. However, this process of death and repair over a long period of time dulled the Necrontyr's minds and their abilities to sense emotion or pleasure. In time, the ultimate outcome of this process of gradual desensitization was that the Necrontyr, now calling themselves the Necrons, became little more than the warrior-slaves of the C'tan, harvesting life from across the galaxy to feed souls to their Star God masters.

Many more C'tan were discovered by the Necrons existing within the stars of the galaxy and they agreed to join the war on the Old Ones, including the Star Gods known as the Void Dragon and the Outsider. After successfully defeating the Old Ones in the great conflict known to the Eldar as the War in Heaven, the C'tan turned on each other until finally there were only four left, and then the Old Ones, in attempt to preventh their extinction, launched a last gasp attack on the divided Necron Empire with the aid of their bioeneginneered warrior races, the Eldar and the Krork. The Old Ones had discovered that the C'tan and Necrons had only one real weakness--they had no defense against the psychic powers produced by the Warp, because the C'tan were beings of pure energy who produced no psychic emanations in the Warp and the Necrons, once they transferred their consciousnesses into their necrodermis bodies, had become creatures solely of the material realm, with no souls present in the Warp. To meet this threat, the four remaining C'tan united once again and prepared to close off the Warp from the material universe once and for all, but never got a chance to execute their plan due to the arival of the Enslavers.

The Enslavers
After countless years of slaughter, and the final destruction of the Old Ones, as well as most of the lesser races they created, there was little intelligent life left in the Milky Way Galaxy. The countless rifts into the Warp caused by the battles of the War in Heaven allowed various powerful Warp entities to pass through into the physical universe, the most dangerous of which were the Enslavers. The Enslavers killed billions. Though they had no effect on the C'tan or the Necrons since neither species now produced a psychic presence in the Warp, the toll on the C'tan's food source of sentient beings was immense and the C'tan withdrew into great stasis tombs across the galaxy to be guarded for eons by their immortal Necron slaves. There they would wait for close to 60 million years, until the Enslavers had returned to the Warp and the galaxy was teeming with intelligent life again. Only the Eldar remembered their ancient foes.

Necrons in the 41st Millennium
The Necrons are still a shadowy presence rather than a full-fledged force in the galaxy of the present time. 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 soul 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 Imperial Navy fleets protecting the Solar System unnoticed, and ultimately casting doubt on the impregnable status of Holy Terra itself. They reached the Red Planet's surface in the Noctis Labyrinthus, perhaps in search of one of their C'tan masters, believed to be the Dragon of Mars, before being destroyed by the agents of the Imperium. This incident, however, is a heavily guarded secret within the Imperium, which greatly fears that the Necrons may awaken the C'tan known as the Void Dragon which inhabits a stasis tomb beneath the sands of Mars. 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 using their phase technology - taking their dead with them.

The Necron forces come from uncharted tomb-worlds. Their phase technology allows them to deploy anywhere in the galaxy, almost instantaneously through unknown means, since the Necrons are incapable of entering the Warp. In defeat, they "phase-out" and return to their associated 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 or Tau scientists (the only two races that want to know more about these deadly enemies) have nothing to study.

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 the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus who worship the Void Dragon as their Omnissiah). But it is known that the C'tan had the Pariah Gene placed in what became the human genepool several million years ago. This gene has since manifested itself in the agents of the Culexus Temple, the specialized anti-psyker assassins of the Officio Assassinorum.

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 called necrodermis that 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 of the Necrons is that when a battle has turned strongly against them, the entire army will simply vanish from the battlefield using their unknown phase technology. 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 known as the Deceiver, the Necrons never communicate with non-Necrons; and even then the Deceiver has only been observed communicating with non-Necrons rarely at best.

Necron Units
The Necrons do not have a range of choices for an army like the Space Marines do.

C'Tan
Necron players can choose to field a C'Tan as one of their HQ units. Either of the two choices has a set of abilities that make it a unique addition to the army. The Nightbringer is a close combat powerhouse, and his abilities focus on direct combat with the enemy, while the Deceiver is not quite as strong of a fighter, but his abilities focus on misdirection and harrying your enemy.

Necron Lord


Necron Lords are the commanders of Necron forces, chosen because, by choice or not, they are one of the few Necrons to have retained their sentience. Necrons 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 increases the effectiveness of other Necrons around the Lord, such as augmenting the healing factor of their necrodermis, 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 as organic beings. 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' necrodermis bodies allow them to sustain massive damage and continue functioning.

Pariah


Pariahs are the result of a long-dormant and nearly undetectable gene hidden within the DNA of living human beings. The host of the "Pariah Gene" may live their entire lives and never be aware of their abnormality. Outside of Necron influence, people who carry the gene are said to have "no presence in the Warp". This makes them immune to the influence of psychic abilities. It is when the essence of the C'tan transforms a person possessing this gene, usually after their capture by Necrons, that they will metamorphose into a Pariah. In battle Pariahs use their special genetic trait to negate the influence of psychic abilities and can cause any psyker in close proximity to completely lose their connection to the Warp, rendering him or her vulnerable and ineffective in combat. It is this particular ability that has prompted Eldar assassins to actively hunt down and kill humans possessing the Pariah gene--before they have even transformed or are even aware of their special status.

Immortal
The Necron Immportals are those favoured Necrontyr who were among the first to give up their flesh and embrace the necrodermis and their C'tan gods. For this, they were rewarded by being turned into Immortals. They are more durable, heavy variants of the Necron 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 in unfeeling and emotion-dampening necrodermis. 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 the Aztec god Xipe Totec for the cultural reference to Mesoamerican religious practices.)

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 Necrontyr murderers and psychopaths before their entombment in their cold metal husks.

Destroyer


Destroyers are Immortals fused to fast and agile anti-gravity 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 armour.

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


Tomb Spyders are 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 using their phase technology. There are more than two dozen records of Necron contacts in space in Imperial archives, and accounts of other intelligent races like the Orks, Eldar and Tau 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 or mass, 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 starships are well-armored in necrodermis, 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. However, the Necrons weaponry is 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 suicidal. 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 because they are fully capable of outmaneuvering most other fleets (probably with the exception of the 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 and phase away.

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 all Necrontyr technology and their greatest scientific discovery. The physical shells that contain the C'tan are made from it as are the Necron's metal bodies. The C'tan Phase Sword and C'tan Phase Knife also use Necrodermis. Literally, the name means "corpse skin" (from Greek νεκρος and δερμις, or dermis). Also, it must be noted that necrodermis is not an alloy of other metals but a fundamentally new material created by the Necrontyr. Necrodermis is ridiculously resilient, taking incredible amounts of damage and just reforming back into its original form. Almost all Necron weapons, vehicles and spacecraft, not to mention the Necrons themselves, are completely made of necrodermis.