#Warhammer 40k 8th edition necron rules series

In doing so, they became the Necrons, giving up everything except their undying hatred of the living, to serve the star gods silently for all eternity. Eventually, they offered the Necrontyr immortality in the form of transference of their essences to machine bodies. The Necrontyr worshiped the C’Tan and in turn the C’Tan reveled in their worship. Over time they were able to bind their essences into physical shells of living metal called a Necrodermis, and set them loose on their enemies. These anomalies were great beings that fed on the energy of the stars and the Necrontyr named them C’Tan, finding a way to communicate with them.

#Warhammer 40k 8th edition necron rules series

In their study of the stars, Necrons discovered a series of curious anomalies in the oldest, dying stars. The Nightbringer’s original art, which also slaps.Įnter the C’Tan. In their early travels they encountered the preternaturally long-lived Old Ones and, setting with envy and contempt, started a war with the Old Ones that would nearly tear the galaxy asunder.Īlthough technologically advanced, the Necrontyr were no match for the Old Ones and their psychic progeny, the Eldar, and it was in their desperation that the Necrontyr discovered the existence of the C’Tan. In their first Codex, GW chose to carry this thread forward, fleshing out the faction’s details and giving them an elaborate backstory that wound back millions of years.Īs it turned out, the Necrons were the mechanical descendants of the Necrontyr, a technologically advanced but short-lived race whose planet was bathed in stellar radiation. TheChirurgeon: Necrons were originally introduced in White Dwarf as mysterious raiders, robots of unknown origin who would appear rising out of the ground or teleporting onto the battlefield, fight for an indeterminate period of time, repeatedly stand back up after being damaged, and then phase out via mysterious means.Their methods were inscrutable and their visages meant death. So, let’s strap on our explorator gear and dig into what made Codex: Necrons so special! The standout piece that really captured my young mind is the story of Adept Corteswain and it is a must read if you want to get a feel for what the Codex writers were going for with the faction at the time.

It’s all very Eldritch horror and it’s wonderful. All throughout the Codex are snippets from a mysterious text, “Deus Ex Machina”, (that is never elaborated on) which hints at the galaxy wide implications that a reawakened C’tan may have. Finally, with the introduction of C’tan we’re given an explanation to the race’s origins and level of the threat. The “monsters” are then revealed with the army list but are still not given any sort of motivation or explanation. Ignoring the book introduction, the first couple of pages include stories of guardsmen fighting horrifying skeletal xenos, inquisitors messing around with mysteriously glowing and growing asteroids, grim Eldar prophecies, and an overview of odd goings on in the galaxy. As an introduction to a mostly mysterious new faction, the Codex reads like a thriller or a horror novel. Mike: The Codex structure is pretty unique for its time or even now! There was a clear narrative drive and an attempt to create tension with the codex. Here was a race that the Imperium knew little about, had only encountered sporadically, and reviewing the available documentation was like scrolling through unorganized microfiche! The short length, low unit count, and monochrome pages (all typical in 3rd Edition) added to the character of the Necron faction. While the release of Codex T’au the year before gave the setting a dose of bright optimism, Codex: Necrons gave us all a new thing to fear.Ĭodex: Necrons really stands out from the other books of the time. And in doing so, they added a terrifying new bogeyman to the setting, giving us a glimpse into a more cosmic horror that predated the Imperium by millions of years. TheChirurgeon In July of 2002, Games Workshop released Codex: Necrons, taking the faction from an oddity supported only in issues of White Dwarf with a single-digit number of metal models to a full-fledged faction in the 40k universe. Today we’re talking about the release of the first ever Codex: Necrons and the impact it had on the 40k universe.

Welcome to Goonhammer ‘02! We’re taking a look back to 20 years ago and some of the key releases of 2002.