Necron fluff questions

[Tyriks]

So, I haven't been able to find many books that really look into the Necrons in any real detail.  Are there any out there?  

 

I also have some questions which might not have definite answers.  For starters, can new Necrons be created?  It seems like they are focused on finding the old tomb worlds and waking them up or recruiting them (per the little Sautekh box in the BRB), so I would guess that if they can make new ones it's easier to just find old ones.  However since they are essentially a species that has been transferred into sexless bodies I would assume they can't reproduce anymore.

 

I've heard people say that Necrons can't get promoted - that whatever your role is, no matter how good you are at it or at other things, that you'll always be doing that.  Is that stated explicitly somewhere, or is that just a common player assumption?  After all, Imotekh seems to have moved from Nemesor to Phaeron, so it looks like it's at least possible, if unlikely.  

[Harrowmaster]

"Promotion" is theoretically possible for nobility like Lords (though it would be court intrigue) near everything else is a mindless robot so it wouldn't happen.

[shandwen]

I've always thought that the "quality" of the work when they were turned into necron determined their role, and that only the top their kept anything resembling free will (and at one point the silent king had a bypass for that...). Also it always appeared that their race all became necrons around the same time, so new ones wouldn't happen.

[NTaW]

I've always liked to think that Necrons could slave the minds of captured enemies to Warrior bodies to reinforce their ranks, but once I saw how the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica maintained their ranks* I kinda hoped that was the way it worked. That way the need to find and awaken Tomb Worlds remained central to continued survival.

 

*I'll let people either look this up themselves or know because they've seen the series.

[spacepup]

I can not recall any books containing any information on the subject.

 

Though "Dead Men Walking" was a pretty good novel. But I am a bit biased since I like both the DKoK and necrons.

 

Promotions I feel wouldn't be much of a thing. To me it almost feels like a caste system when it pertains to the necron dynasty.

[Seahawk]

There is no promotion. The Necrontyr had a caste-based society, and that kept with their undying legions, as everything got "locked" into place. 

 

In the 7th edition codex, it is said that theirs is a "rigid and regimented society". At any rate, only the royalty have any semblance of personality and ambition; all other ranks had their minds dimmed and personalities crushed beneath oppressive protocols. Royalty can give themselves new titles whenever they feel like; it doesn't mean much really. All that matters is that they're the overlord.

 

New Necrons are not made, simply rediscovered and awoken or repaired. The biotransference happened aons ago, and there are no more to be made. The old Pariahs fluff indicated otherwise, but they're gone now.

[Blood Shadow]

Are there any books or fluff that say what a Necron characters goals are? I mean they are intelligent so what do they do when not at war? we know they are individuals if not quite all that they were when they were flesh

[AccidentalCultist]

Are there any books or fluff that say what a Necron characters goals are? I mean they are intelligent so what do they do when not at war? we know they are individuals if not quite all that they were when they were flesh

Mostly their entire racial aim is about reconquering the galaxy from A) young and immature humans and B) offshoots of the Old One (Eldar). More recent 'fluff' has the Silent King returning and awakening the tomb worlds to help fight off the Tyranids.

 

and as to ...'when they are not at war?' in the 41st Millennium, there is only war

[Shinespider]

In terms of "Promotion" - I think it's safe to say that the various noble ranks are a bit flexible. A low-level Lord can move up to become a high-level Lord, or be cast down to a lower rank, but that's all confined to the upper ranks. Warriors and other rank-and-file bots don't have the mental capacity to compete with their Lords. 

[Blood Shadow]

In terms of "Promotion" - I think it's safe to say that the various noble ranks are a bit flexible. A low-level Lord can move up to become a high-level Lord, or be cast down to a lower rank, but that's all confined to the upper ranks. Warriors and other rank-and-file bots don't have the mental capacity to compete with their Lords. 

Not for promotion but we have seen at least one instance of an intelligent foot soldier, in the Fall of Damnos one of the immortals spoke to a marine during a battle, though I don't remember what it said  

[Xisor]

In terms of books that dig into this, there's:

- Dead Men Walking, by Steve Lyons. Great novel, not very Necroncentric in the telling of the story, but one of the finest depiction of "horrifying, cosmic dread" Necrons (which many think of as old, pre-personality/3rd/4th edition Necrons), it's a very compelling view from outside. Also bleak!

- The Fall of Damnos, by Nick Kyme. Good enough read, but leans to heavily on the 'Necrons are innately melodramatic and monomaniacal' side we got in 5th/6th edition.

- Hammer and Anvil, by James Swallow. A bit more standard than the above, but less vexing too. I liked the depiction of the Necron 'worlds'.

- there's a couple of great glimpses in "Shield of Baal" anthology of shorts and novellas, particularly 'Word of the Silent King' by Laurie, and another (not the Tempestus one, not Josh's BA one) that saw some never-before-seen 'old school' Necrons (early makes, in universe, not harking back to old Lore!).

- Deus Ex Mechanicus by Andy Chambers is always well worth a read.

- Phobos Worked in Adamant by Robey Jenkins, doesn't go into Necron social stuff, but is a great view of the horrors of stuff, generally.

- "Xenology" by Si Spurred, a big ol' background/narrative book. I've seen one on the BL Sales group tagged at £75, but I'd recommend it (and I bet you could haggle down to £50 easily). It's primarily about dissections of Xenos specimens, but there's some really neat stuff in it too that relates to the thread.

[Walter Payton]

For those willing to emulate the wicked Eldar Corsairs, .pdf copies of Xenology can be found online for the iron price.

[Aothaine]

The old codex I had said that they found the C'tan eating stars and helped make them aware of reality as it is in 40k. Then went on a huge war path against the Old Ones. The Necron race started losing and turned to the C'tan to basically make themselves immortal and so sucked the souls out of everyone and put them into the robots. 

 

No promotions that I know of but the short stories in codexes are pretty good. There is one in the old Tau dex that talks about an entire sept being wiped out of existance because they were invaded by Tyranids and Necrons woke up on a nearby moon and just wiped everyone out.