Short stories of Necrons up on Warhammer Community

[Get Thokt]

So far there have been two short stories published on the Warhammer Community based on Necrons.

 

This is the second and latest story which was published yesterday, this one featuring Flayed Ones and Deathmarks.

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/05/18/psychic-awakening-gone-dark/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=WHTV&utm_content=whtvpreview180520

 

I am really enjoying these pretty dark stories and feel that Necrons will be heading into the next edition with this strong horror element to them.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Get Thokt

[NTaW]

Necrons have been getting an increase in lore and quality of representation recently. Several short stories and full novels from their perspective either released or planned with new models and these (specifically this glorious one about Deathmarks and Flayed Ones) PA shorts, as well as at least Trazyn playing a pivotal role in current events.

 

The grimdark is real with this Gone Dark story. That's significantly darker than their previous iterations, which while twisted was nowhere near assimilating victim's knowledge and voice patterns to play psychological games with the rest of the prey levels of twisted. It chose the female Guardsman over the other when it was her brother that made it back to the ship and you expect me to think that, or the fact that the Flayed One recognized the brother of its victim with the way it initiated contact, is coincidence? Maybe they aren't as broken by the Flayer Virus as we previously were led to believe. Hannibal Lector meets House of 1000 Corpses but as a killer death robot? Yikes.

 

I know there's some nightmares in this universe but when it comes to this incarnation of Flayed Ones I'd rather face zombies, and that's saying something :lol:

[Tyriks]

I'd rather have Flayed Ones stay crazy. Maybe this one had a quirk where it believes itself to be the victim they are wearing. Much creepier that way, imo.

[TootiusNootius]

I'd rather have Flayed Ones stay crazy. Maybe this one had a quirk where it believes itself to be the victim they are wearing. Much creepier that way, imo.

I am not sure - I think pushing them just enough that they get through that animalistic nature to gain a level of cold, calculated, cunning is more horrifying.

 

Perhaps this might mean Valgûl has been tampering with them or teaching them to hunt more effectively. They laid a trap for the Dark Angels in the codex [probably under Valgûl's plans] but what if they can learn.

[Tyriks]

Crazy isn't the same as stupid.  I wouldn't play Necrons if I thought they were stupid.  They shouldn't be mindless, but Flayed Ones should absolutely be insane.  Not much of a curse if it just makes you better at killing.

[Bonzi]

Crazy isn't the same as stupid. I wouldn't play Necrons if I thought they were stupid. They shouldn't be mindless, but Flayed Ones should absolutely be insane. Not much of a curse if it just makes you better at killing.

Well, you have some competing issues here.

 

#1. The flayer virus makes the machine feel endless hunger but they have no way of eating so you get murder bots draped in skin eating chunks of flesh that are falling out the bottom. That doesn't really make them too stupid to strategize or hunt, it just makes them endlessly seek to pointlessly eat. So they do a stupid thing but they are not 'stupid' if that distinction makes sense. The action is crazy but crazy people can still make plans and decisions within the framework of their insanity.

 

#2. Flayed Ones are mostly warriors and warriors have the worst neural arrays and whatnot. The fluff basically puts them a few steps above a sentient toaster unless they are being directly overseen. The fluff even mentions that even Immortals barely speak and have limited reasoning outside of warfare situations. So that's the part the new fluff kind of contradicts.

 

Flayed Ones are toasters set to 'bagel' in a world with no bagels.

[Tyriks]

Not speaking doesn't make them stupid. They just don't have choices. The fact that they do react to their situation tactically shows they aren't stupid. Animals learn to avoid traps or danger but they l don't think tactically. I can't think of any fluff that actually shows Flayers as being animalistic - we have fluff showing that other Necrons think of them as animals, but that doesn't mean they are (they also think of themselves in ways that don't line up at all with reality). Flayers have always been smart enough to be dangerous, even to other Necrons.

 

And any Necron can be infected by the Flayer virus, we don't know if any given Flayed One was a Warrior, an Immortal, a Lord, or what have you (Unless they give us a Flayed Lord model which would be AMAZING). Presumably they are mostly Warriors because most Necrons would be Warriors but we don't know if the Flayed Warriors are acting independently or responding to Flayed Lords, or what have you.

 

What we do have in abundant detail is that other Necrons of all stations fear Flayed Ones. Not because of the physical danger they pose, but because of the chance you will become one. That is how I want Flayed Ones to continue to be portrayed because I prefer that Necron fluff actually be about Necrons. Any Necron should be terrifying to humans, but a Necron thats terrifying to his own kind? Hell yes.

[Lucerne]

I feel like this story would have benefited from a few lines from the victim for "mimicry" purposes at the end.

[Tyriks]

I agree with that 100%. I felt like it was still setting something up and was dumbfounded it was over. Felt really rushed.

[Bonzi]

Well, these puff pieces are meant to raise more questions than they answer and leave us wanting. It's really more clever advertisement than work of literature. Reading it we are left with really big questions that go far beyond 'the Flayed one did something odd'.

 

Why/how are all the humans becoming lethargic and just sitting down to die on ships and planets (we have two writings with this happening plus a teaser that says and entire sector has gone silent). How are the Necrons doing this and why? Mindshackle scarabs? Some new effect they are creating with Blackstone that dampens all psychic effects, including life forms with souls?

 

We have a teaser story that mentions refugees invading a world as they flee a black shadow in space. This is a hallmark of the Void Dragon who also created the initial Blackstone pylons. Are we going to get some expanded Ctan lore on rouge shards?

 

The most recent fluff has death marks and a flayed one laying in wait on a what amounts to a ghost ship. Who told them to protect that ship and why? Why didn't the flayed one flay all those comatose bodies if it was already on the ship.

 

The truth is GW needs to answer few if any of these questions because their purpose is to fuel the hype train and it's working.

[Lucerne]

Well, these puff pieces are meant to raise more questions than they answer and leave us wanting. It's really more clever advertisement than work of literature. Reading it we are left with really big questions that go far beyond 'the Flayed one did something odd'.

 

Why/how are all the humans becoming lethargic and just sitting down to die on ships and planets (we have two writings with this happening plus a teaser that says and entire sector has gone silent). How are the Necrons doing this and why? Mindshackle scarabs? Some new effect they are creating with Blackstone that dampens all psychic effects, including life forms with souls?

 

We have a teaser story that mentions refugees invading a world as they flee a black shadow in space. This is a hallmark of the Void Dragon who also created the initial Blackstone pylons. Are we going to get some expanded Ctan lore on rouge shards?

 

The most recent fluff has death marks and a flayed one laying in wait on a what amounts to a ghost ship. Who told them to protect that ship and why? Why didn't the flayed one flay all those comatose bodies if it was already on the ship.

 

The truth is GW needs to answer few if any of these questions because their purpose is to fuel the hype train and it's working.

I suspect the death aura is related to a null effect the Necrons are now deploying somehow, fleeing the shadow is a question mark, and the Flayed One lore may be being overhauled slightly to allow for more subtlety and malice.

[BaconCouch]

Quick note - Deathmarks use synaptic disintegrators. They aim for the head. If they hit, they fry the neural pathways, leaving an intact corpse, with no outwards signs of damage.

I assumed the dead people were pretty much all suffering from terminal brain damage, alive in a sense, but only just with their brains fried.

[NTaW]

I'd rather have Flayed Ones stay crazy. Maybe this one had a quirk where it believes itself to be the victim they are wearing. Much creepier that way, imo.

 

I still mean crazy, though I think my description has failed a bit. I imagine there's a spectrum on insanity they inhabit so I doubt every one of them would be this level of intelligent, but that they retain any ability to stalk, hunt, and trap is an addition that's wonderfully grimdark. As you went on to note we know all members of the Necron hierarchy are vulnerable and fear Flayed Ones, I guess I welcome this as new insight into what becomes of more those more sentient that become infected.

 

They and Deathmarks both travel from pocket dimensions or some other form of teleportation in, I wonder if we'll see a connection there or if we'll see Flayed Ones expanded on in lore a bit through this upcoming PA book/event.

[Hathor42]

In fall of damnos there is a flayer lord who controls the others. He kills cause he needs new "robes" as his old ones are all crumbly and he needs to look more regal and sets out to hunt the marines trying to make their way behind the necron lines.

[Get Thokt]

The last short story has been published. This one of Szeras:

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/05/25/psychic-awakening-for-every-end-a-beginning/

[NTaW]

I'm loving this new lore despite still being beaten over the head with reminders of how old the Necron are. The sarcastic tone from Athmandyus the Infinite Doorway (seriously, what a moniker) was enjoyable. One thing is absolutely sure though, I'm also suddenly very interested in the dynamic between Orikan and Szeras. Isn't there a book coming out about them soon?

[Tyriks]

The upcoming book is about Orikan and Trazyn.  It seems like a followup to the War in the Museum short that was released a little while ago (same author, some of the same characters and themes).  The short was decent enough, I'll be willing to pick up the novel when it drops.

 

One thing I noticed in this new short that made me wary is the reference to all the Dynasties accepting Szarekh's leadership.  Hopefully this is supposed to represent just those Dynasties that have chosen to accept this, and not all Necrons, as there's no way my Dynasty would accept Szarekh back without re-writing all the fluff I have for them.  

[Hathor42]

Well the growing map wasn't the whole galaxy so maybe it hasn't spread to the storm lords territory yet.

Well the growing map wasn't the whole galaxy so maybe it hasn't spread to the storm lords territory yet.

[Vrezhk]

I enjoyed those short stories, particularly the Flayed One's mimicry, and whats going on with those refugees? So interesting!

 

The only thing I wasn't particularly keen on was the amount of overly descriptive and (in my opinion) slightly nonsensical words used in 'For Every End, a Beginning' to describe things. Did anyone else feel bombarded with words, you could say it caused me inexplicable cerebral resistance, so much so that I lost track a few times reading it.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Vrezhk

[Tyriks]

I enjoyed those short stories, particularly the Flayed One's mimicry, and whats going on with those refugees? So interesting!

 

The only thing I wasn't particularly keen on was the amount of overly descriptive and (in my opinion) slightly nonsensical words used in 'For Every End, a Beginning' to describe things. Did anyone else feel bombarded with words, you could say it caused me inexplicable cerebral resistance, so much so that I lost track a few times reading it.

Yeah, quite a few BL authors have this issue, IMO.  Using "40k words" makes things feel strange and alien, which is good, but there's a balance to be struck between that and just feeling like it's nonsense that not everyone can hit.  Abnett is probably the best at finding the balance.  But many authors like to overdo it.  

 

The refugees I think are the results of experiments with cutting off the warp.  In the live stream they discussed the Necrons' main goal being "turning off things perhaps they shouldn't turn off," which vibes with their previously stated interest in severing the warp from our galaxy, which would either kill or leave brain-dead every living thing.  My assumption is they are experimenting with this and we are seeing the results of a localized experiment.