The fall of the C’tan is a good lesson for anyone to learn about hubris… as they were some of the most powerful beings in the universe!
They have kept the Necron race alive through the eons with trickery and power. Every blessing has a cost and the C’tan have paid the price for theirs.
It took years of searching to find the ancient data scrolls about the C’tan lore. But we sent out our best data servitors and they came back with plenty of info. The elder race we’re drooling over today is almost as old as time itself. Ultimate greed for power drove the C’tan across the universe. They feasted on stars in a quest for unlimited power. No one knows how many are actually left, the ones who are, contain power beyond us simple mortals. Meet your eventual overlords.
Birth and Star Destruction
Legend has it that the C’tan were created along with the birth of the universe. Beings spawned from the vortex of gases and gigantic reserves of energy. Thus they are etheric creatures by design. In their true form, they appear as beings of impossible size. In such giantess, they spread themselves over whatever star is unlucky enough to see them and suck the very energy from the weeping star. They have a thirst for energy that is insatiable. After some time they needed new prey, so they simply developed wings to travel the stars. Stopping at every star they could find to feast upon its energy. The only thing they cared about was feeding all other material in the universe was insignificant.
They reigned free for millions of years, extinguishing one star after the other. A race known as the Necrontyr were the first beings to see the C’tan feasting on their star. Their king, Szarekh, “the Silent King” knew he must take action or their world would become unlivable. Somehow this mortal managed to communicate with the powerful being. He was the one who granted the name, C’tan, in their tongue meaning “star god” or Star Vampire”. They thought they could be helped by the C’tan and built them physical bodies of living metal made from Necrodermis. The C’tan realized this could further their needs, they were eventually transferred to these new bodies across an incorporeal starlight bridge. Imagine a being the size of a star squeezing its entire might into a small body, a tight squeeze for sure.
C’tan Lore and the Need for Power
The C’tan realized a new food source of energy. One much smaller but readily available, the life force of living beings. The C’tan took the Necrontyr’s hatred of the Old Ones and turned it into an endless war. The taste of the dying souls was much more succulent and had a different taste than that of a dying star. They became obsessed with the idea of worship, the millions of mouths proclaiming their greatness only furthered their thirst. Eventually, they forced the Necrontyr into pure slavery. It’s not known whether they tricked the Necrontyr, or they did so willingly to enter undying metal bodies. But eventually, every Nectrontyr was entombed in shells of living metal. Thus becoming the Necrons as we know them today.
A great war raged across the universe, the C’tan and Necrons against the Old Ones and the younger races. They harvested countless millions of souls to feast upon. Not long after the Red Harvest started in earnest a plague of Enslavers appeared. They were the final nail in the coffin for the Old Ones, and with the war drawing to a close the Red harvest of the C’tan was depleting quickly. Finally, Szarekh noticed the error of his dealings with the C’tan. He had no choice but to revolt against his new masters.
The C’tan were so arrogant, how could simple beings like the Necrons harm them? They were a true danger to the C’tan though, they utilized weapons that focused near impossible amounts of energy into the realm of the living. Once they realized the danger, it was already too late. The Necrons shattered the C’tan with their intense weaponry. Oh, hubris, how you have been the downfall of so many an unbeatable opponent.
Transcendent C’tan
Transcendent C’tan are beings coming apart at the seems with the purest elemental energy. A single Transcendent C’tan is a vast collection of shards merged from the time of their downfall. Each shard is nothing amazing, but when merged together they make beings of immense power.
The Necrons use the shards of these powerful creatures as weapons of destruction. They entombed the shards in Tesseract Vaults and control them with Canoptek Sentinels. The energy shackles were designed by Svarokh himself. When the need becomes dire enough they release the Transcendent C’tan from its prison to unleash fury upon their foes. A boundless rage flows forth from the C’tan. Because of that boundless rage, this can be as dangerous to the Necrons as it is to their enemies.
The single greatest weakness of the C’tan lies in their utter inability to comprehend the warp. This is why they had to fly across the universe instead of being able to travel the warp to any star to feast on its power. Some think it is impossible for a C’tan to survive in the warp, making them susceptible to psykers and magicks spawned from the warp. They had a plan to close off the warp forever but never finished their scheme…
With so many new Necron models coming out we assume new lore will be coming soon! Let us know what you think will become of the C’tan in this Edition!
C’tan Lore
About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
