The Necrons are a
mysterious race of skeletal warriors that have lain dormant in their
stasis-tombs for millions of years. They are ancient beyond reckoning,
pre-dating even the Eldar. At long last however, they are beginning to
awaken, for the galaxy is ripe for the greatest harvest since the demise of
the Old Ones.
The Necrons' story is one of ancient betrayal. Aeons ago, the Necrontyr race
clung to their short lives in fear of oblivion at the hands of their massive
and ravaging star. They pushed the limits of science in an effort to
lengthen their lives, but to no avail. In their despiration, the looked to
their science and discovered ethereal beings, feeding on the energies of
whole stars. They named these being the star gods, or C'tan. They offered
the Necrontyr people immortality but only at a terrible price. We will never
know if the Necrontyr knew this price, but their race was completely purged
and transferred into new metal bodies.
The C'tan are enormous energy beings who were given physical embodiments by
the Necrontyr. They encased the C'tan inside vast lumps of their living
metal, the same material they used in their space faring ships. The metal
mutated into the shape desired by the personality of the being inside. The
Night Bringer was forged into a dark figure with a large cloak, adding to
the fear it already inspires, and the Deceiver is formed into a wily shape.
Originally there were a large number of C'tan, but due to the machinations
of the Deceiver, this number reduced to four, The Night Bringer, The
Deceiver, The Void Dragon and The Outsider.
The Necrontyr accepted the C'tan's offer and their souls were encased in
living metal bodies. What they did not know was that the process dulled
their minds and senses until they became slaves of the C'tan. The C'tan
needed warrior-slaves to harvest the lifeforms of the galaxy so the star
gods could feast on souls, and their new Necrons served this purpose very
well.
The Necrons burst into the Old Ones strongest fortresses and destroyed their
magiks and technology. The Old Ones were forced to seed planets with life to
help fight the C'tan, including the Eldar and Krork. These races had the
ability to use the warp to defend themselves. Gradually, the Old Ones were
forced back behind the relentless push of the C'tan and billions of souls
were harvested for the Star Gods. The C'tan had been working on a plan to
cripple the Old Ones, and eventually it came to fruition. They burst into
and destroyed the webways discovered by the Old Ones. Without these portals,
the Old Ones were practically crippled, being unable to move troops
throughout the galaxy. With the new races using so much warp power for the
purposes of killing, the benign creatures in the warp mutated into the evil
creatures they are today. Then the Enslavers came, and forced the Necrons
back with their psychic powers. The 4 remaining C'tan went into stasis to
avoid the Enslavers and allow the galaxy to repopulate without the psychic
swarm, so they could emerge and reconquer their empire.
In combat, the Necrons are unyielding war machines that bring swift death to
their prey. Armed with Gauss Weaponry that strip an opponent's molecules one
layer at a time, the Necrons have fearsome firepower. Also, the Necrons have
a remarkable ablility to repair themselves, a Special Rule known as "We'll
Be Back!". This gives the Necrons incredible staying power in a battle,
which makes them an enemy dreaded by all races. It is often said amongst
commanders of more orthodox armies that the Necrons are an overpowerful
force on the battle field, due to the fact even a basic warrior can tear
through the strongest tanks in the game although Necron players dispute this
rigorously. They also use a variety of deadly wargear, some making the
wearer immune to some assaults, others that create deadly arcs of lightning.
They are analysed within the Necron Armoury.
The Necrons most often encountered by other races are warrior machines.
These include:
* The ancient Necron Lords
* The inhuman Pariahs
* The silent Necron Immortals
* The horrific Flayed Ones
* The phalanx-like Necron Warriors
* The serpentine Wraiths
* The potent Necron Destroyers
* The scuttling Scarabs
* The monstrous Tomb Spyders
* The destructive Necron Heavy Destroyers
* The devastating Monolith
Necrons serving purposes other than purely warrior roles have not as yet
been observed.
The Necron fleet is a small but deadly force capable of destroying most
ships very easily. They also don't make use of the same form of intersteller
travel, the warp, as other races do. This makes them difficult to intercept,
being hard enough as it is. Their fleets are analysed in the Necron
Fleetforge. Also, on particularly rare occasions, a super heavy Necron
device called a Necron Pylon is seen. It is feared for its extreme power and
ability to appear anywhere on the battlefield.
