If you love tales of webway, Cegorach, The Black Library, and the end of the 40k universe, come see these ancient texts.
Nearly 15 years ago I read a tale of what seemed to be setting the stage for the implosion of the 40k universe (even back then). I managed to find the same text I read way back then earlier in the year when searching for information on Cegorach, but there was no annotation on where the text was original from. I know it was a GW publication, or perhaps content from their old forums or website. It may have even been the first Necron codex as well.
Either way it may not be “cannon” anymore but it sure is a fun read. Here’s the first excerpt that I found.
Spoiler alert: the keeper may be Cegorach himself?
Annals of the Black Library
Written here is what is found hidden in the annals of the Black Library, source of all knowledge now and ever. In every of the infinite facets of the multiverse this place is found and so is its knowledge. Seek here the knowledge lost with its keepers.
I am the keeper of this section of these hallowed halls, the section belonging to your universe and the infinite and myriad paths it can take down the halls of fate. I will tell you the stories of that which will be, that which is, that which was, and that which may be. Sit down a spell. Here, in the corner. Now wait while I take down a tome so I may start my tale.
That is why you are here? Is it not? Or are you here to visit the Inner Sanctum?
Either way sit a spell, it will be a long while before the Guardians of this place come. Now here it is. ‘Of the Old Ones.’ The earliest history of this universe, for a tome from these walls can only appear if someone has written of it or told of it somewhere, somewhen.
This is not a record keepen by the Old Ones themselves, I am not permitted to show someone of your low stature such a thing beyond your comprehension. This is a very good abridgement by a very acurate Eldar historian, I would hope you meet him someday but I doubt it.
Now let us begin.
Of the Old Ones:
Before the dawn of man, beast, elf, or spirit there were the Old Ones, now known as the Old Gods and Elder Gods by those uninformed. They differ greatly from the Old Gods and Elder Gods in that they were never gods. The Old Ones were born of flesh and blood as you or I, though other such writings claim they surpassed this by the time the last ones disappeared with the fall of the Elves. While the ancestors of man were still grasping even the concept of fire they were far beyond what man will reach even in hundreds of thousands of years.
Legend holds that the Old Ones were the first to ever learn the secrets of the stars and the place between, the Immaterium. They constructed great ships of materials unheard of since. They traversed the black between the stars like you orI would step outside to visit a neighbour. In all their travels they only wished to learn and teach, never inciting war. But, if war were brought to them they would fight with a ferocity that would frighten lesserbeings into surrendering quickly.
But then came the Necrontyr. They were a sad race, of short life and bitter mind. Belonging to a dead and dying world where the enviromental was opposed to life, theses sardonic beings lived to die and relied on science to stretch out their short lives.
The Necrontyr fled from their world when they learned the power of space flight, though it was long and slow because they never learned the power of the Empyrean. In their ships of living metal they spread across the meager planets surrounding their homeworld, hoping to escape the slow death at home. This was all to no avail though, for their worlds were all similar.
After a long while they encountered the Old Ones and they resented them. Where the Old Ones were all powerful and kind, the Necrontyr were spiteful and weak. They struck out at the Old Ones and failed time and time again. For centuries they did this. But one day the poor necrontyr found something, something that would give them the edge in their war of attrition against the Old Ones. They found it feeding upon their star, it was nothing more than an odd form of energy.
Give me a moment, before I can continue on to our next tale I must interrupt us and tell you of the Necrontyr. This story is oh so bitter, the poor Necrontyr having their hands forced like that.
Of the C’Tan and the Necrontyr:
The necrontyr studied it for decades if not centuries. They learned that the energy was sentient and hungry. It feeded on the life of stars and that need to feed never seemed to end. They learned how to communicate with it, albeit rudimentarily. It whispered secrets and promises into their ears and they listened. To truly learn the secrets though it had to have physical form, so they gave it to it. The Necrontyr, using the powerful and strange living metal known as Necrodermis, and gave it form. They named what it is C’Tan, star god in their language, and it coalesced into a form well known by all, then and today. As the metal took shape they saw the Nightbringer, death incarnate.
The C’Tan had known nothing of living beings before this. Despite this, what one would usually think would be a time of curiosity and learning, turned into a blood bath. The Nightbringer began to slaughter the Necrontye like flies, consuming their energy and killing millions. Quickly they pledged their eternal servitude to the monster. Eventually they did similiar to dozens upon dozens of other C’tan, one at a time forcing the remaing Necrontyr to pledge their allegiance to one. Eventually one of the C’Tan, possibly the one that would later become known as the Deceiver, offered to aid them in destroying the Old Ones and give them inmmortal bodies in which to last the ages if they literally served them for all eternity.
The Necrontyr were overjoyed. They had never heard of such a prize. They gave in almost instantly and their essences were removed from the bodies by the C’Tan. The star beings then placed the essences in bodies of Necrodermis. But because the Empyrean is anathema to the C’Tan tey were unable to take the soul, who’s essence is made from the stuff of the Empyrean, with their mind and essence. The Necrontyr were forever transformed into the soulless autamata later to be known as the Necron.
Hmmph, the Necrontyr. I have seen one only once in person, otherwise I must contend to these sketches from the books and tomes. Luckily not one has ever been permitted to the Inner Sanctum. Hopefully one never will.
Clocking in at 1100 words this is just part one. Check back next week for part TWO of the Annals of the Black Library.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
Bio: Virginia restless, miniature painter & cat dad. He blames LEGOs for all this, as there was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all. Spikey Bits sprung from Rob staying motivated to hobby on his backlog of projects, while sharing his knowledge with others during the early blogging era.
LEGO maniac and scale model hobbyist in the 80s turned miniature wargamer and trading card player ever since. He’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition), but Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and minatures made of pewter and resin.
