Ain't got no soul anymore-Really? (fluff existential doubts)

[DOGGED]

Hi there!

 

I've looked for it on the forum but got no answer to a question which arose in my head all the while going over Necron fluff again.

 

The thing is that Necrontyr gave away their souls in exchange for biotransference and the c'tam fed on those souls. All right.

(a lot like this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoHbfGUR_vo ) 

 

But...

 

The C'tans themselves got(quite literally) blown to pieces by the Necrons. One could have guessed the eaten souls were gone for good. By the way, another celebrity given to eat souls is Slaanesh. In Age of Sigmar lore, Slaanesh got trapped between worlds/planes and was gutted (again, quite literally) by the Aelfs - the AoS Aeldari if you don't know it http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Aelf . The trapped souls then got away http://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/slaanesh-fate.jpg and got reincarnated in a different way to their previous existence. Enough.

 

Question(s):

 

What about the souls of the Necrontyr?

 

What happened to them after the splintering of the C'tans?

 

Could it be that the Necrontyr souls got lost, their bodies not to be found?

(this need to already have a body would be moot since the AoS parallel myth regarding the Aelf souls puts them onto new forms depending on the faction)

 

Could it be that the souls got into the Necron bodies corresponding to their former selves, but keeping a grade of consciousness equivalent to their standing?

 

What's the meaning of life? (couldn't resist)

[Beatnik cryptek]

Ok, as I see it the triarch fell for the c'tan offer to give them new, pain free, immortal bodies without mentioning the whole "losing your soul" thing. The silent king accepted and forced it on the majority of the necrontyr race. Only after the biotransfer thing did the higher ranking necrons realize they'd lost their souls which the c'tan fed on to empower themselves to defeat the slann.

The c'tan used the power they got from eating the necrontyr racial soul to defeat the slann, ans then the necrons pulled  their big "FU" on them  and turned them into their pokemon.

As to the necrons, there was a terribly cheap old movie called creation of the humanoids  in which people's minds were being transferred into artificial bodies and one man, upon discovering he was now in an android body, asked "Do I still have a soul?"

 

The answer was "No, but you remember having one, perhaps that's enough."

I think the higher necrons remember having souls. That makes them more than machines.

[Tyriks]

I think the difference between Aelfs and Necrons is that Slaanesh wants to own souls - they're like a magic item that gives you a boost as long as you have it. For the C'tan, the souls were food - they were eaten and provided a temporary boost afterwards. That's why the Ctan started reaping all life afterwards; they realized how powerful it made them but also that it wouldn't last.

[Beatnik cryptek]

I think the difference between Aelfs and Necrons is that Slaanesh wants to own souls - they're like a magic item that gives you a boost as long as you have it. For the C'tan, the souls were food - they were eaten and provided a temporary boost afterwards. That's why the Ctan started reaping all life afterwards; they realized how powerful it made them but also that it wouldn't last.

I think this is pretty much right on the money.

[DOGGED]

I think the difference between Aelfs and Necrons is that Slaanesh wants to own souls - they're like a magic item that gives you a boost as long as you have it. For the C'tan, the souls were food - they were eaten and provided a temporary boost afterwards. That's why the Ctan started reaping all life afterwards; they realized how powerful it made them but also that it wouldn't last.

 

Good speculating there, but...

 

See. Slaanesh ate the souls just like the C'tan did. Now we could guess tat souls are kind of energy sources like stars but the emotional charge of the former is what makes them "tasty" enough as to be preferable; also the fact they are spiritual and not only material (even as energy). OK. But it's not about owning souls or eating them but about the fate those souls fare after being collected out of their material beings.

 

I'm not sold on the difference between souls eaten by Slaanesh and those eaten by C'tans because a different fate for them would mean a different way to "digest" souls for Slaanesh and C'tans. Now we're talking fantasy but it's far different to lose a soul than having it destroyed.

 

C'tans fed on energy so it's logical that biotransference fed them the energy contained into living Necrontyr. But what about the soul per se? Both the reference to polymorphine in that old piece in the 3rd ed. codex and the chance that chemical substances working in living beings are what make their "energy" tasty could imply that it is actually the energy contained into a living being which the C'tans found so palatable.

 

Also the way Aeldari souls pilot wraith constructs imply that there's more than energy to the soul; a kind of back up of the person to which the soul belonged seems to be a characteristic of said soul, along to a sense of "wholeness" to say so. I'm not sure on how this could translate to the composition of a soul. Food for thought.

 

Keep going!

[Tyriks]

Slaanesh is a very different beast than the C'tan. Even if it were the same setting, there's no reason to think it would work the same. The C'tan aren't warp-based - they have no presence there. To them, souls are no different than a physical energy source.

[Tyriks]

A thought occurred to me - Slaanesh ate the Eldar gods when he was born. Those he ate ceased to exist. So it might just be a difference in the settings.

[Beatnik cryptek]

The C'Tan, IMO, are wholly creatures of the material universe. They were created at the birth of the universe. They have zero connection to the warp but may be vulnerable to warp power. I believe the Blackstone fortresses were the weapons that shattered the C'Tan and they seem to use warp power.

 

Necrons know the warp exists but use it only if need be. They prefer to shut it out, they mostly used it to shatter the C'tan because it was all that could.

 

Were there any necrontyr psykers? I donct know, this is all just my opinion on the background implications.

[Tyriks]

Necrons have no warp presence and never really did. They never had psykers and didn't use the warp because they couldn't. They were very vulnerable to psykers as a result.

[Beatnik cryptek]

Necrons have no warp presence and never really did. They never had psykers and didn't use the warp because they couldn't. They were very vulnerable to psykers as a result.

Hmmmmm, no warp presence at all and advanced tech? This all goes to feed the idea that the necrons and tnetau are somehow related...

 

 

Hmmmmm, indeed.

[SpecialIssue]

The C'tan didn't feed on souls. They devoured the energy created by biochemical bodily functions and neurochemistry in living organisms - they found this tiny, delicate trickle of energy delicious, instead of the bland but nourishing energy from the stars. We are essentially sweet and tasty batteries for them, they can't even grasp what 'souls' are since they are creatures entirely of the material universe.

 

It's all in the 3rd - 4th edition material; and in that codex, when a daemon describes the cult of the dragon on mars, it states that the souls of people sacrificed to it are not devoured but are instead left on the table for the daemons as such.