| abstract | - Each Necron Lord is a wilful individual with its own personality and goals. Many Lords desire to elevate their status within the Necron hierarchy, perhaps to one day rise to the position of Phaeron and rule over an entire dynasty. Others desire to expand the boundaries of their dynasty’s domain through conquest. While some such Lords and Nemesors may exterminate the inhabitants of the worlds they conquer, others are perfectly willing to accept oaths of allegiance and servitude from the lesser races. Still others desire to undo the curse of biotransference, or perhaps to eliminate their age old enemies, the Eldar. Some Lords are consumed by strange obsessions, such as collecting objects of historical significance or cataloguing every life form in the galaxy. Necron Lords are easily marked out through the elaborate decorations with which they are adorned. In some cases these take the form of ancient, mouldering robes, possibly dating from before biotransference. Others are clad in tabards and cloaks of shining, segmented metal. Perhaps this choice of attire gives some insight into the minds of these immortal rulers, differentiating those who long for a return to flesh from those who embrace their undying form. Amongst the Necron nobles of a Tomb World, political infighting is common and there are always countless schemes playing out, albeit at a glacial pace by the standards of other intelligent races. As a result of their android natures, all Necrons tend towards calculating behaviour and a pretender will rarely move openly against his opponent if the chance of success is outweighed by the high probability of failure. At the same time, it is not unknown for a challenged Overlord to yield to a subordinate if there is no hope of immediate victory. They will choose to wait out the passing years and centuries at a lower rank, patiently anticipating an opportunity to reclaim the power that was lost. But if the prize is large enough, such power struggles can erupt into open conflict. When this occurs, the remaining Tomb World nobles will align themselves according to their own loyalties and ambitions, though some will wait as long as possible to negotiate the price of their loyalty. These internal conflicts invariably follow the formalised codes that governed the ancient Necrontyr, leading to set piece battles with forces arranged and rules agreed to in advance by the competing nobles. In the times before the biotransference, such civil wars led to the slaughter of countless millions in a matter of days or weeks. But nowadays, the Necrons' cybernetic ability to self-repair enables them to wage such conflicts for years or even centuries with no discernible victor. This is reason enough for all but the most desperate or power-hungry Necron nobles to avoid such an outcome. For each of these battles fought amongst his own kind, a Necron noble will orchestrate hundreds of sprawling campaigns against those alien usurpers who squat amongst the remains of the Necron dynasties in the modern galaxy. For many Nemesors, it is unthinkable to honour an alien enemy by following the traditional Necrontyr codes of battle. In their eyes, most intelligent races of the galaxy are little more than vermin to be exterminated with as much efficiency, and as little of the ancient pomp of ceremony, as possible. Most of the more advanced races in the galaxy, such as the Eldar, have proven themselves unworthy of being treated as equals. As a result, assassination and ambush -- forms of battle forbidden in wars between the ancient Necrontyr nobility -- are employed by the Necrons against outsiders with no reservations. Yet no matter how underserving a Necron ruler considers his enemies to be, he always personally oversees his forces battles whenever possible, leading his vassals into the thick of the fighting. In this way he proves his superiority and right to rule, both to his noble Necron peers and to his enemies across the galaxy. When a Necron lord strides forth to war, only the strongest and wiliest of opponents have any hope of survival. His armoured form is impervious to even tank-busting weaponry and features highly sophisticated self-repair protocols, and his robotic body provides him with the strength required to crush bones to dust. At his command are all the armaments of the ancient Necron civilisation: Warscythes, Tachyon Arrows and the other extraordinary tools of destruction forged by Necrontyr science. Yet perhaps a Necron noble's most potent weapon remains his mind and the absolute determination that resides there to reforge the ancient Necron Empire.
|
