Come and learn of the ancient tale of betrayal as we take a look at how the Necron race came to their current state of existence.
The Necrons were not always evil Machiners hell-bent on the destruction of other races They were once flesh and bone beings that were betrayed and enslaved. Let’s learn more about their sad tale.
Via: Lexicanum
The Necrons’ story is one of ancient betrayal. Aeons ago, sixty million years before the 41st Millennium, the Necrontyr race reigned supreme over the Galaxy. However as their great empire grew ever wider and more diverse, the unity that had made them strong was eroded and bitter rebellions known as the First Wars of Secession erupted as entire realms fought for independence.
The Triarch – the ruling council of Necrontyr – realised that only the threat of an external enemy would bring unity once more and saw the Old Ones as the perfect subjects for the wrath of their race. Already jealous of the Old Ones’ seemingly eternal life spans, the Necrontyr went to war with the Old Ones, the separatists abandoned their rebellion, and the War in Heaven began.
The War in Heaven was one of the bloodiest wars in Galactic history, and it soon became apparent that the Necrontyr could never defeat the Old Ones and their mastery of the Warp despite their advanced technology. On the verge of total defeat, the unity of the Necrontyr began to fracture once more in the Second Wars of Secession.
The Triarchs again desperately searched for a unifying force, and their prayers were answered by the ancient and godlike C’tan, who were drawn to the Necrontyr by the beacon of their raw hatred for the Old Ones. Seeking the aid of these all-powerful star gods, the Necrontyr sought the favour of the C’tan and constructed bodies of living metal to contain their essence.
So it was that a C’tan known as the Deciever came before Szarekh the Silent King, lord of the Triarch. Telling the Silent King that his kind had also fought and been defeated by the Old Ones and were now looking for vengeance. Promising them not only victory in the War in Heaven but also the immortality every Necrontyr craved, the Silent King and the Triarch eagerly agreed to an alliance, and so forever doomed their race.
Beginning the great biotransferance, the weak flesh of the Necrontyr was replaced with immortal bodies of living metal. The C’tan drank off the torrent of cast-off life and energy and grew stronger as Szarekh, now in a machine body himself, realised he had made a terrible mistake. The Necrontyr may now be immortal and unified, but they had lost their souls in the process. Thus the soulless machines known as the Necrons were born.
With the C’tan and Necrons fighting as one, the Old Ones were overwhelmed and defeated in a bloody purge across the Galaxy that saw whole systems devoured by the reality-warping powers of the Star Gods and legions of immortal Necron warriors, who managed to infiltrate the Webway and assail the Old Ones at every corner of the Galaxy.
The Necrons burst into the Old Ones’ strongest fortresses, overcoming their magics and technology and forced the Old Ones to seed planets with life to help fight the C’tan, including the Eldar and Orks. Ultimately the increasingly desperate Old Ones were themselves wiped out after mistakenly unleashing Warp-spawn perils such as the Enslavers.
Throughout the final stages of the War in Heaven, Szarekh bided his time, waiting for the moment where the C’tan would be most vulnerable. With the Old Ones finally defeated, the Silent King struck and led a Necron revolt against the arrogant C’tan. The Necrons focused the unimaginable energies of the living universe into weapons too mighty for even the C’tan to endure.
The C’tan, almost impossible to destroy entirely due to their very nature, were instead shattered into shards. Yet even with the defeat of both the Old Ones and C’tan, the Silent King saw that the time of the Necrons was – for the moment – over. The mantle of galactic domination would soon pass to the Eldar, who had fought alongside the Old Ones in the War in Heaven. The Necrons, weakened by the War in Heaven and the revolt aganst the C’tan, could not stand against them. Yet the Silent King knew that the time of the Eldar would pass, as did the time of all flesh.
So, it was that the Silent King ordered the remaining Necron cities to be transformed into great tomb complexes threaded with stasis-crypts. The Necrons were laid to rest, ordered to sleep for sixty million years and then reawaken, ready to rebuild all that was lost and restore the dynasties to their former glory. Yet the Silent King did not join his subjects. Destroying the command protocols by which he had controlled his people, the Silent King left the Galaxy, there to find whatever measure of solace or penance he could.
For sixty million years the Necrons remained in their deathless slumber in their tombs in what became known as the Great Sleep. As time passed, many Tomb Worlds fell prey to malfunction or ill-fortune. Some were destroyed by marauding Eldar. These failures destroyed millions, if not billions of dormant Necrons. But when the Tomb Worlds did begin to reawaken, it was not simultaneously. Some awoke to see the Great Crusade, others during the Age of Apostasy. Most, however, awoke during the later years of M41; but even still billions of Necrons lay dormant.
