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Some Thoughts on the Necrons
🕑 Added 2018-10-27 07:35:45 +0000 UTC What follows are some of my thoughts on the Necrons, and how they will be treated in Embers.The Necrons are the oldest faction by far, older even then Chaos and have the most advanced Materium technology in the history of the Galaxy. I consider the defining aspect of their history, and the history of the galaxy as a whole in fact, to be the War in Heaven, and what they did to win it. The War in Heaven was the galaxies first galactic war, where the Necrontyr fought against the first sapient species to evolve in the galaxy and won, though only due to a Faustian bargain made with the C'Tan. Every Necron in the galaxy is a veteran of the War in Heaven, which was fought on a scale that overshadows the greatest wars since in the same way that World War 2 overshadows a schoolyard brawl with baseball bats and switch knives. To give an idea of how big it is the number of planets that there seems to be in 40k is orders of magnitude less then there should be, I attribute this to the War In Heaven. As such the Necrons can't help but compare their foes to those they once fought, and find them greatly lacking. While this could be considered to be a weakness it leads to by next point, which is that the Necrons WON The War in Heaven.
The Necrons were the victors of the War in Heaven, who overcome the Old Ones and all of the forces that they could muster, the echoes of which are some of the most powerful factions in 40k, and in Embers they are operating at full capacity. The fact that they won shows that they have access to galactic scale armies, highly skilled generals and military technologies that few can dream of in 40k. While some may wonder why the Necrons did not totally curb stomp everyone in 40k if this is the case in Embers it be due to a combination of factors. First the first Necrons that woke up first were those damaged by the long sleep, and not operating at anything like full capacity, and second they were only a small fraction of the Necrons total numbers. This is because the Necrons were not actually scheduled to wake until late M44, and those that work early did so due to errors.
The single most defining action in the War in Heaven for the Necrons is the bargain that they struck with the C'Tan, and their transformation from the Necrontyr into the Necrons. This bargain shows just how far they are willing to go to archive victory if they need to, and taints their views of all other races. The one time in their history that the Necrontyr swallowed their pride and agreed to work with another race they suffered the greatest betrayal in 40k lore. Though they did eventually gain revenge in a coordinated effort that shattered a race of Gods in a single strike. Personally I consider what the Necrons did to the C'Tan as one of the most amazing feats in 40k.
Technologically the Necrons have pushed their knowledge of the Materium around as far as it can go, and have developed quite a formidable array of Warp technology. In general if there is any non Warp based technological feats in 40k Necrons can do it, and if it is Warptech Necrons may still be able to do it. On note I will make about their weapons technology is that their two main weapons, Gauss and Tesla are designed respectively to hurt even the toughest targets, such as Wraithbone, and to target hard to hit targets. In other words the Necron loadout seems to be designed to kill Eldar and Krork.
While their soulless state makes Necrons incapable of using pyshic powers their experiences in the War in Heaven have forced them to develop the most effective null technology in history. As well as making Psykers significantly less effective against them they they should this allows them to pull of feats such as cutting off deamonworlds from the Warp, calming Warp Storms and similar.
In war the Necrons tend to overwhelm their enemy with large numbers of very tough, very well armored soldiers able to recover from even fatal wounds. When this is insufficient they usually turn to either the skills of their elites or to some of the options that their highly advanced technology gives them access to.
