Necrons. Kingdoms and civilizations throughout history constantly rise and fall, with the
fall of one paving the way for the rise of another. The tale of the necrons in warhammer
40k isn't much different overall, except that they've had the chance to rise more than once.
Overall, the necrons are a threat to most other forms of life, determined to regain
their former glory through bloodshed and death. The necron's ancient history is murky, to
say the least, but let's take a look at their story, some of their technology, and their
potential future.
The necrons are an ancient race, predating even the eldar, although they were known as
the necrontyr in those times. The necrontyr lived during the days of the Old Ones, an
even older race of beings that had mastered the stars and were capable of easily stepping
across the galaxy. In contrast, the necrontyr were isolated to a single harsh planet that
was constantly blasted by solar winds and radiation storms from their sun. As a result
of this, the necrontyr's lives were short and miserable, their bodies blighted by cancers
and other illnesses, and their tombs were far larger than their cities. To escape this
hellish existence, the necrontyr focused their efforts on taking to the stars. Eventually,
they managed to build slow-moving spaceships, and began to colonize other nearby systems.
With little resistance in the galaxy and enough time, the necrontyr managed to spread out
and expand their empire to much of the milky way. During their expansion, they of course
came across the old ones, and marvelled at both their spacefaring capabilities as well
as their longevity. The necrontyr still suffered from brutally short lives overall, and so
they went to the old ones to ask for their secrets of immortality. The old ones, as you
might expect, refused, creating a burning jealousy within the necrontyr. Regardless,
life went on, and as is so often the case for massive empires, the necrontyr soon faced
another problem, civil war. Although the necrontyr had been united in a singular goal of escaping
their harsh existence, they had begun to separate into differing dynasties with their own goals.
Thus began the necrontyr's first wars of secession as they turned on one another, fighting for
their independence from the rest. Given enough time, the necrontyr likely would've wiped
eachother out, and so something needed to intervene.
For many years, the necrontyr had been ruled by a council of three known as the triarch,
although the individuals holding those positions often changed due to their life spans. The
triarch realized that the only sure way to end this civil war was if the necrontyr had
an external enemy to fight instead of eachother. The answer to this problem was simple then,
as the old ones were the only species capable of putting up a fight, and the necrontyr already
hated them, making them an easy enemy. The triarch declared war on the old ones, and
offered amnesty to any dynasty that rejoined the fold and joined the war, which they of
course did. The necrontyr therefore began the war in heaven, which would have massive
repercussions for the entire species.
The war in heaven was conflict on a galactic scale, as hordes of necrontyr took the fight
to the old ones, causing suns to extinguish and worlds to be consumed. It became clear
rather quickly however, that despite the necrontyr starting the war and their rage driving them,
they were no match for the old ones superior technology, especially when it came to their
mastery of space travel. The necrontyr were beaten back into the edges of the galaxy,
their war instigated for nothing. Disharmony spread amongst the necrontyr once again, beginning
another war of secession as the fragments of the civilization battled eachother. The
old ones could've easily wiped out the necrontyr entirely if they wished, and so the triarch
were again desperate for a solution to their problems. The answer came in the form of the
C'tan. The C'tan are said to be the oldest entities in existence, formed from raw energy
at the beginning of the universe. They spend their time blanketing their massive forms
over stars, sucking the energy from them before moving on. During the second wars of secession,
the necrontyr happened to learn of the c'tan, naming them as star gods. They recognized
the power of these ancient entities, and the triarch realized that they could be the solution
to their problems with the old ones. The necrontyr crafted metal bodies for the c'tan, giving
them a physical form so they could understand and interact with the physical world. These
bodies were crafted from a unique type of living metal used by the necrontyr called
necrodermis, capable of growing and healing itself. The c'tan, previously massive entities
of energy given phsyical form, began to understand the various pleasures of the physical world
compared to the tastelessness of their prior existence. The necrontyr revered the c'tan
as godlike entities, but also treated them as their slaves. They used the raw power of
the c'tan to arm themselves with new weaponry and spaceships, and continued their war with
the old ones. The c'tan were only too happy to spur on this war, as they hungered for
souls and life energy, and a massive war was the best way to satisfy that hunger.
The necrontyr were of course betrayed and deceived however, primarily by one c'tan known
appropriately as the deceiver. The c'tan promised the necrontyr the answer to their problems
of mortality, telling them to cast off their physical bodies and replace them with living
metal bodies. With the weakness of flesh discarded, the necrontyr would be free to crush the old
ones and conquer the universe. The triarch agreed, and so the process began, as countless
necrontyr marched into bio-furnaces, transferring their energies into metal bodies. Above each
furnace however, the c'tan hovered, feasting on the discarded souls of the necrontyr. The
necrontyr became known as the necrons, no longer hindered by any of their previous physical
ailments, but also lacking their souls. The necrons were now cold, unfeeling metal monsters,
but despite this betrayal, they were united in their goal of wiping out the old ones,
encouraged by their new physical strength. Additionally, the leader of the triarch, the
silent king, had introduced a command protocol into all of the necrons during the process
that allowed him to control all of them, giving the necrons a degree of unity they had never
possessed previously. The war in heaven continued in earnest then, and the united necrons and
c'tan crushed the old ones, breaking into every corner of their civilization. During
the final stages of the war, the necrons turned against the c'tan, as retribution for their
betrayal. Although the c'tan are unable to be fully destroyed due to their unique nature,
the necrons did manage to shatter them into fragments. These shards of the C'tan were
secured away in pocket-dimensions contained within tesseracts. Despite their two victories,
the necrons were weakened, and they realized their goal of conquering the universe would
have to wait, as the eldar species was on the rise now. In time, all flesh would eventually
decay, but the necrons could wait as long as necessary. A great number of worlds were
converted into massive underground tomb complexes, and as his final order, the silent king commanded
the necrons to sleep for sixty million years and then rise to reclaim the galaxy. The silent
king himself however, went into exile as penance for dooming the necrontyr as he had.
Time of course ticked on, as millions of years passed by, and other civilizations rose and
fell. Over the course of sixty million years, a great number of the necron's tomb worlds
would fall or fail for some reason or another. Attempting a stasis-sleep for that length
of time, even for the necrons, was tricky, and a number of mechanical systems would end
up failing during that time. Some failures were small, causing necrons to wake up earlier
or later than expected, while other failures were far more catastrophic. Some tomb worlds
fell to the eldar, who were capable of bypassing the tomb's defenses, while many others were
destroyed by natural causes, such as tectonic shifts or nearby stars going supernova. Due
to this, the necrons did not wake as one massive civilization capable of sweeping the galaxy,
but as a more fragmented species. Necrons began to awake and found far more enemies
than when they had gone to sleep, including in the imperium of man, the forces of chaos,
tyranids, orks, tau, and of course the eldar. Necrons lack the unity they had under the
silent king, and there are a number of dynasties operating in the 41st millenium, whose leaders
express different personalities and methods of reconquering the galaxy. The silent king
himself returned after encountering the tyranids outside of the milkyway and realizing the
threat they posed. He has been operating largely incognito, attempting to awaken as many necrons
as possible to reunite the civilization and destroy the tyranids before they wipe out
everything. A notable encounter between the silent king's army and the blood angels space
marines led to them working together to fight off a tyranid horde.
Most necrons are little more than automatons, their minds degraded and their souls absent,
leaving them as mindless soldiers working for their leaders. The higher ranking necrons,
such as the phaerons that control dynasties or the overlords that rule clusters of tomb
worlds for their phaeron, have retained more of their mental capabilities and personalities.
Necrons themselves are fearsome foes, as their necrodermis bodies are heavily resistant to
damage, can self-repair grievous injuries, and are capable of teleporting back to nearby
tomb worlds if near death. Here, their minds are transferred into a fresh new body, which
does degrade the mind somewhat, but makes necrons incredibly difficult to permanently
kill. Necrons primarily utilize gauss weaponry in combat, capable of breaking down a target
into its component molecules, essentially vaporizing flesh, metal, and anything else
it comes into contact with. In many instances, necron technology is to eldar technology,
as eldar technology is to human technology. That is to say, it's generally the most advanced
technology in warhammer 40k, although this is often inconsistent for plot or rules reasons.
They are sometimes capable of creating pocket dimensions on a whim, remotely detonating
entire stars, phasing out of exitence, and so on. As always though, this depends on the
author.
Necrons are a rather interesting facet of 40k, and one of my personal favorite species,
combining robotics, zombification, super advanced technology, and a bit of egyptian culture.
While many necrons in the 41st millenium are focused on conquering everything they can
see, the flipside of the silent king working to stop the tyranids alongside everyone else
is also pretty interesting. The necrons have a lot of room to grow, as countless billions
of the species are still sleeping, waiting to awaken. While some species are struggling
and might be on the decline, the necrons have only just begun.