Chapter 21 - The Necrons ======================== +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | "They will seek to harvest us at first, for they will be hungry | | after their long sleep. Then they will turn their efforts to | | enslaving the survivors. The galaxy will bleed the stench of | | death into the void, and it will attract the others of their | | kind. We must choose unity or death." | | - Maechu, Farseer of Ulthwe | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ 21.1 Introduction =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The story of the Necrons is ancient, and the story of their gods more so. In times long past they were an organic race, flesh and blood. Now they are robots, and slaves to monstrous energy beings whose goal is to strip the Galaxy of all life. What the other races of the Galaxy have worked out about the Necrons is that they were once flesh and blood, the Necrontyr, a great and highly advanced civilisation. But something catastrophic happened (or so the races of the Galaxy now assume), something cataclysmic that forced them to transplant their minds to electronic storage, to take up inorganic bodies. The cybernetic race that resulted, the Necrons, hid itself beneath the surface of countless planets, going into hibernation until the cataclysm had passed. Now galactic re-exploration, by Humans and other alien races, has caused scattered clusters of Necrons to become active once again. It is not known what the Necrons want, but they strive to achieve it by attacking isolated planets and settlements, either killing or capturing all defenders. 21.2 History =-=-=-=-=-=- 21.2.1 The Beginning of Time ---------------------------- The story begins at the birth of the universe itself. As the early universe began to cool, as stars formed and subatomic particles coalesced into physical matter as we know it, sentient beings of pure energy formed in the hearts of stars, or from the whirling eddies of energy that would later form the stars, planets and galaxies. They were immaterial beings, with no physical body, but they were not born of the Warp or of Chaos. Just as matter is physical, material, so is energy, just in a different and more... energetic... way. Long before planets had formed and cooled, the first self aware entities emerged from the seas of plasma and mountainous flares of the suns themselves. These beings would later become known as the C'Tan, but for now they bore little resemblance to the monstrous entities they would eventually become. For now they suckled as parasites upon the stars that bore them into existance, shortening the lives of stars by countless millennia. In time, these star vampires learned to fly upon wings of pure magnetic flux, and would leave their nuclear breeding grounds to drift to new places and seek fresh sources of the energy they craved. They paid no heed to the cooling hunks of solid matter they passed in the void, too small, cold and unimportant to even register on these star vampires. 21.2.2 The Old Ones and the Necrontyr ------------------------------------- Eons passed, and in time material life formed. One of the first starborn races to cross the sea of stars was the Old Ones (some incredibly ancient psychomemories possessed by the Eldar call them the Old Slann). They were reptilian (some psychomemories say aquatic) creatures, possessed of a slow, cold blooded wisdom. They studied and their understanding of the stars, of astrology and astronomy rose to an art form or arcane science. They possessed a great understanding of the slow dance of the universe that allowed them to manipulate worlds and alternate dimensions. One such alternate dimension was Warpspace, and they undertook great works of psychic engineering. Their science allowed them to cross the vast gulfs of space with a step and they spread their spawn to many places. Where they went they spawned countless new races and species on countless worlds. As the Old Ones spread and prospered, other races struggled in their wake. The Necrontyr were such a race, born under an uncaring star that drove their evolution with atomic winds and plasma storms. They were a short lived race, individual for individual, their lives short, uncertain, and often brutal as their lives and bodies both were blighted by their harsh star. The Necrontyr sought control of their destiny through science, and learned much, but learned they could not conquer the curse that had been encoded in their bodies, in their very genetics. As much as they perservered, they lives were short and tragic. Their cities were built in anticipation of their bodily demise, huge tombs full of the dead and soon to be dead. The Necrontyr could not find peace on their own world, and sought other stars. Using stasis crypts and slow burning torch-ships, clad in living metal to survive the age long journeys through the void, they found and colonised distant planets. Inevitably, they encountered the Old Ones. The colonisation of the stars by these cold blooded mystics had been immeasurably swifter than that of the Necrontyr, and the Old Ones were immensely longer lived (nigh immortal). Thus burned a hatred for the Old Ones within the Necrontyr. The Necrontyr turned their entire civilisation toward destroying the Old Ones and their spawn. 21.2.3 War Among the Stars -------------------------- Terrible wars followed, wars that the Necrontyr could never win. The Necrontyr technology was superior to that of the Old Ones, but the lizards mastery of the psychic and arcane consistently outmanouvred the beleagured Necrontyr. The Eldar Webway dates back to this time, used by their progenators the Old Ones. The Necrontyr were pushed back until they were little more than an annoyance to the Old Ones. Pushed to the outer halo stars, exiled and forgotten, there burned a hatred of the Old Ones and, in time, of all life. Since earliest times the Necrontyr had studied the stars to try and understand their cruel energies. After long, long centuries of studying the stars, for some power to unleash upon the Old Ones and their progeny, the Necrontyr perceived in the complex skeins of energy an alien sentience, beings of pure energy more ancient than any corporeal lifeform in existance. They found the C'Tan. These ancient entities had little conception or comprehension of the material universe or the inconsequential ants that scurried their tiny, short (in cosmic terms) lives on such tiny lumps of floating rock. Yet, the power of these ancient beings was awesome, and the Necrontyr knew it. Here was the weapon they had sought, the stars incarnate, progeny of the cruel sun they had endured for so long. The Necrontyr called them Star Gods, or expressed in their tongue, the C'Tan. These entropic entities were spread across areas larger than planets, their consciousness too vast for any mortal to comprehend. These short lived insects scurrying their tiny lives on their little piece of rock too inconsequential for the C'Tan to contemplate. Yet somehow the Necrontyr made contact with the C'Tan. Understanding that such diffuse minds could never understand the material world without manifesting themselves the Necrontyr forged bodies for them to occupy, cast from the living metal of their ships. 21.2.4 The Fall of the Necrontyr -------------------------------- Fragmentary legends tell of translucent streamers of force drifting across space as the star vampires coiled into the realm of matter across an incorporeal starlight bridge. Incomprehensible forces were compressed into the living metal of the false bodies the Necrontyr had forged. Made manifest in material reality, and with the focusing of their consciousness, the C'Tan began to appreciate the subtleties and pleasures of both matter and life, of the weaves of dancing particles these fleshy ants were formed of, of the deliciously focused trickles of electromagnetism leaked by the mortal bodies of the Necrontyr around them. Thus awoke a hunger for consuming the living quite unlike the one they had sated in the raging hearts of stars. The Necrontyr fell in awe and worship of these Star Gods, and the C'Tan quickly took control. Perhaps they were tainted by the material world they had entered, or perhaps their manifestations were true to the sun-bound existance they had enjoyed before, but they were as cruel and capricious as the stars that bore them. Armed with weapons of god-like power and ships that could cross the Galaxy in the blink of an eye, the Necrontyr stood ready to begin their ancient war anew. But the C'Tan had another boon to grant their subjects. They offered the Necrontyr a path to the immortality and stability their race had sought since its birth. Their cursed and short lived flesh would be cast away, consumed (by the hungry C'Tan, naturally), and replaced by the cold form of living metal. Whether the Necrontyr truly realised the price they would pay for this will never be known, but they accepted this faustian bargain and their race was utterly purged, becoming instead the Necrons and cursing themselves to eternal servitude of their C'Tan masters. Only a very few of the very strongest retained their intellect and even they were a shadow of their former selves. Only one thing truly remained of their race: a burning hatred of the living. The Old Ones arcane mastery of the Warp was now challenged by Star Gods made incarnate, with armies of soulless armies at their disposal, able to travel anywhere in the Galaxy in a blink of an eye in their Tomb Ships. The Old Ones mastery of the Warp was nothing to the C'Tan's supremacy in the material universe. 21.2.5 Ascendancy and War ------------------------- The C'Tan now dominated the Galaxy. The last bastions of the Old Ones were besieged and the races they had nurtured became cattle for the hunger of the C'Tan. To the conquered young races, the Necrons and their Gods were cruel masters, callously harvesting their populations at will and demanding their fear, adoration, obedience and servitude in equal measure. Eventually even the Old Ones, legendary for their long lived patience, became desparate. They manipulated life into new forms with an even stronger link to the Warp, desiring minions with the capability of channelling psychic power to defend themselves. They nurtured many potential warrior races, and there is speculation that these included the earliest Eldar, the Rashan, the K'nib, and many more. Millenia passed as their efforts bore fruit and the C'Tan extinguished more life from the Galaxy. These hot blooded new races spread across the Galaxy, battling Necron science with Warp-born magicks. The C'Tan were sent reeling - the forces of the Empyrean Realm were anathema to them, and they fell before the Old Ones advance. Unified for the first time in millions of years, the C'Tan turned to finding a way to counter the sorceries of the young races. They instigated a great warding, a plan to forever close off the source of the magick and seal off the material universe from the Chaos Void. It was only a matter of time before they would have succeeded, but before this was finished the seeds of destruction the Old Ones had planted millennia before brought about a cataclysm. 21.2.6 Warp Attack ------------------ The otherworldly denizens of the Warp voraciously sought access to the material realm at the cracks between dimensions. The Old Ones brought forth creations to defend their strongholds, like the hardy, green skinned Krork (connections are postulated between these creatures and Orks, but yet unproven) and the technology mimicking Jokaero, but it was already too late. The emotions and lost souls of the young races dead were already converging in the Warp, the first new Chaos entities forming, and more to the point, existing horrors of the Warp that had for eons been kept at bay by the Old Ones found a way into reality. The Old Ones intergalactic network was breached. The great gates that guarded the borders between realms collapsed. The creatures of the Immaterium entered the universe on masse for the first time. For the first time, Chaos had invaded reality. The most dangerous of these horrors were the Enslavers, beings able to dominate the young races and create their own portals to bring forth more Enslavers in greater and greater numbers. This was the final disaster for the Old Ones as Enslavers took control of their minions. As disastrous as this was for the Old Ones and the young races, the C'Tan were not unaffected. Not only were the forces of the Warp anathema to the C'Tan, but their mortal cattle were to be lost to the denizens of the Warp invaders as well. The C'Tan sought refuge from the Immaterial upstarts. 21.2.7 The C'Tan Entombed ------------------------- Vindicated in their pursuit of cold science and seeing the Old Ones civilisation all but collapse, the C'Tan entombed themselves into stasis tombs on countless planets, sealed for millions of years, guarded by the Necrons. These tombs were on planets devoid of life to keep the Enslavers from their door. Only when their tombs were disturbed again by sentient life would they emerge from their stasis tombs to once again feed on the living. They would let the Enslavers take what was left of the Galaxy, and emerge in millennia in the aftermath of the cataclysm. In the millennia that followed most perished at the hands (or claws, or worse) of the Enslavers or other Warp monstrosities unleashed upon the Galaxy by the war with the Old Ones. Some races survived, some worlds were protected, cut off by ageless Warpstorms that isolated them. One world that survived was cut off by such Warpstorms and remains so to this day. Its portals to the Chaos Void at the poles smashed, sorcery flooded the world. The remnants of the Old Ones trapped on the world survived, but degenerated, losing almost all of their old knowledge and glory. The young races they had planted on the world - Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Man - grew and took control of the world. That world is the Warhammer World, and its story is told elsewhere. The Eldar also survived - barely. They managed to ride out the elemental storm, warding off the Warp invaders with powerful magicks learned from the Old Ones before their Fall. To the surviving races history passed into legend, and legend passed into myth. The Old Ones would be remembered only in the oldest of myths to those who remembered them at all - as the capricious Yngir. The Eldar would have their own Fall in time, but that too is another story, told in the Eldar chapter. The true horror of the times when the C'Tan walked the Galaxy millennia ago is told in the Black Library of the Eldar, and those who have read those works will not speak of it. Mankind, on Earth, also encountered the C'Tan. These C'Tan took the form of the ancient gods of the Greeks, Aztecs and Egyptians, among many ancient human cultures that fell to extinction long ago. Only the most ancient of the records of the Imperium - kept deep in the Adeptus libraries in stasis fields for fear of them crumbling at a touch - record these times, and only as half remembered myths. The Krork may have evolved into the warlike Orks. It is thought the fall of the Brain Boyz happened at approximately this time. If the Krork were indeed the forerunners of the Orks, perhaps the Brain Boyz were in fact the Old Ones. 21.2.8 Free ----------- Eons passed, and in time the Warp invaders left, and most of the cracks in reality between dimensions closed. The races of Eldar, Orks, and Man were born or prospered. The great gods of Chaos were born from the souls and emotions of the mortal races, the Eldar Fell. The Imperium of Mankind fought its Galactic crusade and generally the Galaxy came to be how it is now. After their millennia of waiting, sentient races once again walked the planets of the C'Tan. Their Necron guards stirred, and scattered clusters of Necrons have become active once again to encroach on the Galaxy. The races of the Galaxy who do not remember the Fall of the Old Ones do not know what the Necrons want, but the living metal warriors strive to achieve it by attacking isolated planets and settlements, either killing or capturing all defenders. Races like the Eldar, who at least possess ancient myths going back to the Old Ones, know more but say little and brace themselves. Their myths speak of ancient Gods that stalked the Galaxy and enslaved those they came across. So far two of the C'Tan have emerged from their tombs - known as the Nightbringer and the Deceiver. They have found a new and unexpected age of civilisation and war, blossoming with latent psykers and worshippers of the infernal Warp energies let loose by the war with the Old Ones. It will take time and a great many machinations for the C'Tan to regain their place as rulers of the Galaxy. Chaos must be overthrown, the Eldar eliminated, the great work (to seal away the Immaterial realm from the physical realm) completed and Humanity subjugated. In some of these goals, Man, the Eldar and many of the races of the Galaxy share. In others, there are stark enemies. The C'Tan can wait. They and their Necron servants are ageless, their science still unparalleled, and time is on their side. 21.3 The Necrons =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 21.3.1 Tomb Worlds ------------------ On Mars, in the area known as the Noctis Labyrinthus, the mountains of mist, lies an ancient secret. There lies an ancient sarcophagus, with energy pylons feeding into it crackling with raw electric power. The Imperium, as it explored the Galaxy, found countless planets apparently devoid of life, yet which at some ancient time did harbour life. This is born out by the existance of ancient tomb-like structures, or vast sarcophagi, found on or in these planets. These tombs or sarcophagi also bore a similarity to that found on Mars itself. Curious to discover the secret that these structures hid the Adeptus Mechanicus established Forge Worlds, or at least scientific research or monitoring stations, on many of these worlds. These worlds are in fact Tomb Worlds of the Necrons. Beneath the tombs and sarcophagi lie Necrons, either waking or soon to wake after their millenia long sleep. 21.3.2 The C'Tan At Large ------------------------- There are currently only two C'Tan at large in the Galaxy, the others either destroyed in the war with the Old Ones, or still sleeping on their Tomb Worlds. The two that are yet abroad in the Galaxy are known in the oldest legends as the Nightbringer and the Deceiver. The Nightbringer ------------------------- The Nightbringer is known to many cultures, both Human and otherwise. One of the most ancient and hungry of the C'Tan it delights in death, and indeed is known as the figure or god of death to many cultures. It inflicts this pain and suffering not only to feed, but simply because *it can*. It feeds on terror and anguish and feeds those emotions with death, pain and suffering in abundance. When the Necrontyr first called upon the star vampires, the Nightbringer was the first to cross the starlight bridge from their most local star. The Nightbringer found the awe and fear of the Necrontyr much to its liking, quenching a hunger different to that it had quenched when feeding on the stars themselves. Here it found a new sustenance, and it liked it. Only by desparate platitudes, pledges of servitude and the promise that there were other forms of life elsewhere for the Nightbringer to consume were the Necrontyr spared. Soon after the Necrontyr awoke many of the other star gods. In the war against the Old Ones, the Nightbringer brought countless death and slaughter whereever it went. It planted the seeds of every races darkest fear into countless young races it encountered. The C'Tan known as the Deceiver then convinced the Nightbringer that the most succulent feasts were in feeding on the energies of the other C'Tan themselves. The C'Tan fought among themselves, but none matched the scale of the Nightbringers slaughter. When the Old Ones finally struck back, only a few C'Tan remained. Some of the most ancient records say four remained, but other ancient records differ on this number, and any or all of those accounts could be wrong. What is known is that the C'Tan were too few in number to fight off the Old Ones renewed machinations and the Enslavers. They were forced to abandon their great plan to seal off the material universe from the Empyrean realm. The Nightbringer had imprinted on the racial memory of almost all the young races the fear of death itself. To the Eldar, the ancient mythic cycles in the Black Library name it Kaelis Ra (literally, "the Destroyer of Light"), while to emergent mankind with its ancient god worshipping cultures, it was known simply as the mythical figure of the grim reaper, complete with scythe. It cared little about all of this, however, as it prepared to enter its stasis tomb against the Enslaver invasion. The Deceiver, meanwhile, had other plans. It disclosed the location of the Nightbringers' tomb to its enemies. They failed to destroy the Nightbringer, but successfully banished its most potent weapon to the Warp, preventing it from accumulating the vast amounts of energy it needed to survive its entombment. It made do with the scant morsels it had already absorbed, and the energy inherent in the perishing of its many followers. However, it was too weak to rise again on its own millenia later. It was the intervention of one of the younger races that gave the Nightbringer the energy to escape its tomb, reaching into space to feed on the stars and grow strong once more. The Nightbringer is now still growing its strength, but may soon be ready to bring death and suffering anew to a galaxy that has all but banished the Nightbringer to dark myth. ***************************************************************************** * No profile is privided for the Nightbringer - it is a powerful, immortal, * * god-like being. The GM alone should decide what the Nightbringer is * * capable of doing. * ***************************************************************************** The Deceiver --------------------- The second of the C'Tan at large in the Galaxy is the Deceiver. The Deceivers greatest machinations have always been fashioned of deception and lies. Its webs of deception have led whole planets to their doom and great leaders into slavery and worse, all for the amusement of the Deceiver. In times past the other C'Tan learned to shun the influence of the Deceiver, but not before it succeeded in sinking the C'Tan into infighting that brought about the end of most of the C'Tan (mostly by the hands of the Nightbringer, see previous section). The Necrontyr knew of the Deceiver, they called him Mephet'ran, the Messenger. Never as powerful in brute force as the other C'Tan, the Deceiver operated using stealth, skill and guile to secure its future. This approach brought it more worshippers than many of the other C'tan, as the methods it employed were more directly understandable to mortals than those of the other C'Tan. It was the Deceiver that tricked the Necrontyr into giving up their mortal bodies, speaking to the believers among the Necrontyr and luring the unbelievers and doubters into their clutches, who delivered the unbelievers to their fate. The Deceiver then added the believers themselves to the ranks of the living metal immortal machines, and the Necrontyr race had become the Necrons. The war in the heavens between the C'Tan and the Old Ones was, in many ways, turned in the Old Ones favour by the fear and deception of the Deceiver. It was also he who brought war between the C'Tan themselves (as already told). He brought the enemies of the Nightbringer to the Nightbringers' tomb, and was the last of the C'Tan to retreat to his stasis in the face of galactic apocalypse. He was also the first to emerge into the new Galaxy. The Deceiver is now abroad again in the Galaxy, and has been for millennia - gathering followers and interfering with attempts to disturb its sleeping C'Tan brethren. He has followers in the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and with them has created many creatures named Pariahs. These Pariahs are living metal humanoids that are psychic blanks or voids, created as part of the war against the races of the Old Ones (such as the Eldar). These Pariahs are related to the Culuxus assassins of the Officio Assassinorum (remember that the Adeptus Mechanicus was involved with the Officio in the discovery and turning of these psychic blanks to the Assassin trade, also remember that the modus operandi of the Officio Assassinorum does fit extremely well with the secret, guiled methods of the Deceiver). The Deceiver also succeeded in fermenting a war in the Gothic sector, in order to destroy several of the Eldar artifacts called the Talismen of Vaul (or Blackstone fortresses, as Man calls them). These Talismen were forged by the Eldar millennia ago to fight the C'Tan if they ever returned. Recently, the Deceiver has reluctantly decided that it needs the other C'Tan if they and it are to re-assert their rule once more. The legacy of the Old Ones is gnawing at the very fabric of reality, and their old slave races need to be brought to heel. ***************************************************************************** * No profile is privided for the Deceiver - it is a powerful, immortal, * * god-like being. The GM alone should decide what the Deceiver is * * capable of doing. * ***************************************************************************** 21.3.4 Necrons -------------- Necron warriors form the core of any Necron raiding force or army. They are mindless drones made of living metal and possessing frightening technology. They carry Gauss Flayers. Necron Lords appear to be Necrons with some degree of autonomy, Necrontyr who retained some sense of their own self when transformed by the C'Tan. They are the leaders of the Necron hoard in the absence of a C'Tan. Necron warriors, like all metallic necron creatures, have a self repairing technology that can cause slain Necrons to rise again after a few minutes and fight on. Furthermore, if self repair becomes impossible (it is possible to disable self-repair if the Necron is struck in the right places) the Necrons and other creatures can (and will) automatically teleport away out of danger to repair. Necron warriors mostly carry the weapon called a Gauss Flayer, while the Necron Lords usually carry a Staff of Light. 21.3.5 Destroyers ----------------- Destroyers appear to be Necron warriors whose upper body is mounted on a skimmer like construct. They can move rapidly powered by an anti-gravity motion, but are otherwise similar to the Necron Warriors. They mostly carry Gauss Cannons. Larger forms of the Destroyers have been seen carrying Heavy Gauss Cannons. 21.3.6 Scarabs -------------- Scarabs are beetle like entities that move in swarms. They carry a disruption field that can negatively affect all non-Necron technologies yet observed, with the exception of psychic powers. 21.3.7 Wraiths -------------- These metal beasts appear to float across the battle zone phasing in and out of reality, a little like the C'Tan Force Sword of the Callidus Assassins. Phasing out of reality after dealing their damage they are difficult to destroy. 21.3.8 Tomb Spyders ------------------- These are montrously large creatures resembling their name in no small way with eight steel legs with which they can crush an opponent. They move using antigravity and are dangerous opponents indeed. One weakness is that despite using anti-gravity, they move very slowly in comparison to most of the rest of the Necron host. They mostly attack with their eight clawed legs, but occasionally they are seen with one or more legs replaced with a particle accelerator weapon. 21.3.9 Flayed Ones ------------------ Flayed Ones appear to be the vanguard of the Necron force. They are thin, wiry and agile creatures of living metal that strip the flesh of their victims and often adorn themselves with the still wet flesh, leaving the skinned corpses behind to sow fear and confusion in the enemy ranks. 21.3.10 Pariahs --------------- Pariahs are metal warriors of a different kind to the Necron warriors. They are not based on the Necrontyr, but on Humans. A product of Necron technology and human evolution, they represent the next phase of the C'Tan plan to harness the Galaxy once more, remaking the creatures in it in their own image. The Pariahs harbour a negative psychic field much like that of Culexus Assassins (see the Assassins chapter) that can harm and kill psykers. Indeed the Culexus assassins themselves each carry Pariah genes. 21.3.11 Monoliths ----------------- Huge beyond belief, these floating fortresses move under antigravity, bristling with deadly weaponry. They also have a teleportation portal by which Necron reinforcements can arrive if needed. Necrons that are damaged and fail to self-repair and teleport to their home tomb often are replaced by reinforcements stepping out of the teleporter in the Monolith - perhaps the same Necron as was 'killed', repaired by superior technology and up and back up and fighting. Necron attacks on a planet often begin with the teleportation of a Monolith to the surface in order to act as a bridge and teleport Necron warriors through its portal. It has been observed that sometimes one or more of Necrons close (within 36 yards) of the Monolith has "phased out" and re-emerged from the Monolith, often invigorated or repaired. When it is now teleporting Necron troops, it fires its weapons, either a particle whip, capable of slicing a Space Marine clean in two, or a variation of the Gauss weapon, labelled by the Adeptus Mechanicus as the "Gauss flux arc projector". It gets 1D6 ranged attacks of this sort. 21.4 Necron Technology =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 21.4.1 Gauss Weapons -------------------- Gauss wepaons, as the Tech-priests have called them, are particularly gruesome in operation. They seem to work by what the Adeptus Mechanicus calls an "asynchronous linear induction motor", producing a focussed bi-polar magnetic field that "pulls" the target towards the gun. It appears to work on some kind of Gauss-Teleporter principle - the same basis which powers the Imperiums crude teleporters. This breaks down energy bonds within individual atoms and reduces matter to codified energy forms which can be stored and replicated almost simultaneously. To a Tech-priest looking at the weapon, it appears to pulse with intense currents that produce the magnetic fields. Those magnetic fields then strip the targets constituent atoms towards the weapon so as to cause what has been described as a "flaying" effect, exposing first skin, then muscle, then bone, and finally destroying the target, all within a matter of seconds. The weapon is not fussy what it affects - fired at a tank (for example) it strips away layers of metal until a hole is made in the tanks armour and the crew inside may be affected. The Adeptus Mechanicus postulates that the usage of this technology as a weapon is just one of the possible uses. The Tech-priests are at a loss to explain how such a weapon is possible. As far as the Tech-priests know, keeping the parameters of the weapon dynamic for maximum efficiency is a mathematical impossibility according to the Magos Statistis experts. The greatest problem to devising such a weapon, according to the Adeptus Mechanicus is generating and focussing the vast amounts of energy needed in a safe way. Because of the extremely high power, running in the multi-megawatt range, even a tiny imperfection in the design would cause massive energy losses. If a mechanical trigger is used to deliver the energy pulse, macroscopic irregularities in the material will dissipate so much energy so as to ruin the trigger. Once that problem is overcome generating and rapidly delivering the energy required is the next problem. Such high energy fields are extremely dangerous and difficult to manage. That such a weapon is possible and commonly used by the Necrons fills the Adeptus Mechanicus with both dread and wonder in equal measure. The most common Gauss weapon seen is of a type commonly called the Gauss Flayer. Larger versions that have been seen have been called the Gauss Cannon and Gauss Blaster, and Heavy Gauss Blaster. A variation mounted on the massive Monoliths is the Gauss Flux Arc Projector. Game details of these weapons can be found in the Wargear chapter. 21.4.2 Staff of Light --------------------- The Staff of Light is carried by Necrons that appear to be in a senior position in the Necron armies yet encountered. In appearance it resembles a long staff with 4 edged blades at the top. The Adeptus Mechanicus isn't entirely clear on how it works, but they think it works on a principle similar to that of a Power weapon, generating arcing electric currents that tear the target apart. In the case of the Staff of Light, it appears this arcing energy is focused into a beam of light that envelops the target and tears them apart in seconds. The Staff of Light has been seen used as both a close combat weapon and for ranged attack. Game details of the weapon can be found in the Wargear chapter. 21.4.3 Warscythe ---------------- The Warscythe appears to work on a similar basis to the Staff of Light. In appearance it resembles a staff with a long blade, somewhat scythe-like or axe-like, at the top, and a small blade at the bottom. At the top, alongside the blade, is what appears to be a linear acceleration chamber similar to those found in a Gauss weapon and which is believed to polarise the magnetic field in the Gauss weapons. In use, it seems to generate a power field, focused along the blade, that tears close combat opponents apart. It has also been seen used as a ranged weapon, with a similar effect to a Gauss Blaster. Game details of the weapon can be found in the Wargear chapter. 21.4.4 Tomb Spyder Particle Accelerator --------------------------------------- Unlike many other Necron weapons, this looks unremarkable. Its effect, however, is terrifying. It fires a stream of extremely high energy particles that tear into the target, creating holes and rupturing vital organs. Game details of the weapon can be found in the Wargear chapter. 21.4.5 Particle Whip -------------------- This is kind of mono-particule whip employed by the Monoliths. A closely controlled magnetic field keeps the particles aligned and targetted. If the whip hits, it is quite capable of cleaving a man clean into two pieces. Game details of the weapon can be found in the Wargear chapter. 21.5 The Officio Assassinorum =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 21.5.1 The C'Tan Phase Sword ---------------------------- Though the Callidus Temple little realises it, they routinely use C'Tan technology. They call it the C'Tan Phase Sword, translated from the ancient runic icons on the dead world tombs where they found this amazing technology. Though it keeps it a secret, the Temple knows where it can access more of these ancient and powerful technology. With the return of the C'Tan, the Callidus masters walk a dangerous line. 21.5.2 The Culexus Temple ------------------------- More than the Callidus Temple, the Culexus Temple uses killing means from the C'Tan. Their assassins themselves, the psychic nulls whom are employed to assassinate enemy psykers, are descended from the C'Tan Pariahs. The Pariahs too are psychic nulls, created by the C'Tan as a union of Necron technology and human evolution, accelerated by the C'Tans powers over matter in one of the rare sojourns from the crypt of the C'Tan in the last new millennia. Seeing the potential of Humanity to hunt down and diminish the other life forms of the Galaxy, the C'Tan engineered the Pariah gene into the genepool of countless human planets. Culexus assassins all carry a gene from a Pariah that gives them their soulless nature, their ability to cancel and even destroy a targets psychic ability. The Eldar know of the Culexus assassins, and their monstrous gift. They also know from the Eldar mythic cycles the likely source of their gifts, and rightly fear these progeny of the C'Tan. 21.6 The Adeptus Mechanicus =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= On Mars, in the area known as the Noctis Labyrinthus, the mountains of mist, lies an ancient secret. There lies an ancient sarcophagus, with energy pylons feeding into it crackling with raw electric power. There dwells (or dwelt) one of the C'Tan. Long ago, long before the worship of the Emperor on Mars, darker things were once worshipped. The spirit of the Machine - the Machine God. In times past the ancestors of the Tech-priesthood on Mars worshipped the sarcophagus (if not its inhabitant). This became the cult of the Machine God, and travelled with the Tech-priests as they spread across the Galaxy. As they journeyed the Imperium they saw the similarities of many dead worlds to the ancient crypt that lay hidden on their home planet, and built their Forge Worlds there. Now the Machine Cult is focused on the Emperor, but whispers of the awakening of the crypt on Noctis Labythinthus stir. The glowing power conduits to the crypt grow stronger, pulling more power from the Martian power network. Tech-adepts of Mars have once again begun speaking the words of Heresy, visiting the ill-omened places of the C'Tan on their Forge Worlds, on Mars itself. Tech-adepts visit forbidden places and forgotton ruins deep in the bowels or most inhospitable reaches of their Forge Worlds. Soon enough, the ancient being that dwells in the sarcophagus on Mars will emerge, along with the similar beings on many of the other Forge Worlds. Not even the Adeptus Mechanicus knows what will happen when that finally occurs. The faith of the Tech-adepts in the Emperor, faced with probably the closest beings in existance to the Machine God, will teeter on the brink and no-one really knows which way it will fall. At best will result a serious schism in the cult of the Machine God, at worst the fall of the Tech-priests from the Emperors grace. Either will be a Heresy to shake the entire Imperium. A schism is already beginning to form in the whispered shadows of the Forges, and when the C'Tan truly wake up, the Adeptus Mechanicus could either break in two or completely give their worship over to the living machine C'Tan. The signs are growing. Agents of the Adeptus Arbites and the Inquisition are hearing the first whispers of Heresy in the Adeptus Mechanicus. The future of the Adeptus Mechanicus teeters on a precipice. One way lies Heresy, war, and possible extermination, but possible glory in the name of the C'Tan; the other way lies the Emperor. Time will tell which way the Machine Cult treads. 22.7 Profiles ============= Necron M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 4 41 34 4 4 7 20 1 28 89 89 89 89 0 7 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 on the body. Necron Lord M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 4 51 44 5 5 17 40 3 28 89 89 89 89 10 7 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 on the body. Destroyer M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 8 41 34 4 5 7 20 1 28 89 89 89 89 0 7 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 on the body. Scarab M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 3 25 0 3 3 3 20 1 0 89 49 49 89 0 Counts as a small target. 3 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3. Scarab Swarm M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 3 25 0 3 3 17 20 3 0 89 89 89 89 0 One Scarab is killed or immobilised per 3 Wounds taken by the swarm. Each Scarab "killed" or immobilised has a 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 taken by that Scarab (treat any damage from a single blow to the swarm that would cause a critical hit as causing extra critical damage on one Scarab). Wraith M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 8 41 34 6 4 7 60 3 28 89 89 89 89 0 extra APs from phasing in and out of reality 7 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less unless a critical hit of level 3 or more is taken to the body. Tomb Spyder M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 3 25 17 6 6 11 20 3 0 89 89 89 89 0 7 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 on the body. Flayed One M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 4 41 34 4 4 7 40 2 30 89 98 89 89 0 6 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less unless a critical hit of level 3 or more is taken to the body. Pariah M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel 4 41 34 5 5 7 30 1 31 89 89 89 89 10 6 APs all locations, 90% chance of teleporting out of combat to the nearest Monolith or stasis tomb if reduced to 1 Wound or less, reduced by 10% per critical level over 3 on the body. Monolith Moves at M 12 under anti-gravity, fires on-board missile weapons with a BS of 39. 70 damage points. May teleport troops OR fire 1D6 weapon bursts of a Gauss Flux Arc Projector or Particle Whip. 22.8 References ================ White Dwarf issues 217, 218 and 230 Necron Codex