Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

If Imperials call Necron weapons gauss and tesla, do they remember who were Carl Gauss and Nikola Tesla?
And how much do they remember from the mankind's past?

Since the Imperium have forgotten who Shakespeare was, I would presume either that the two words have survived as scientific terminology without their etymology being remembered, or that they should be treated as English 'translations' of equivalent scientific terms in Imperial Gothic.

Very little...
In 'Prospero Burns' they mention Shakespeare... They manage to get some of his plays from a damaged library.
There are a few other hints of current countries existing in some form as well as some cities (Nova Yoruk is reffered to as a mythical city) but other than that very little.
They probably know the inventions/theories and the terminology sued in them (Tesla coil) but they probably don't remember the people or have records of them...

I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Most people nowadays don't know who Gauss or Tesla were.

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

Or more recently..."Imotekh". GW loves a bad pun.
What is Ghaz's name referencing though? I just figured "Thrakk" sounded like what he might do to an opponent's skull.

whigwam wrote:

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

Or more recently..."Imotekh". GW loves a bad pun.
What is Ghaz's name referencing though? I just figured "Thrakk" sounded like what he might do to an opponent's skull.

Margaret Thatcher...
Mag-Uruk Thrakka

whigwam wrote:

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

Or more recently..."Imotekh". GW loves a bad pun.
What is Ghaz's name referencing though? I just figured "Thrakk" sounded like what he might do to an opponent's skull.

Bad puns are the best (and only) type of puns.

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

Or more recently..."Imotekh". GW loves a bad pun.
What is Ghaz's name referencing though? I just figured "Thrakk" sounded like what he might do to an opponent's skull.

Margaret Thatcher...
Mag-Uruk Thrakka

Ah, I am oblivious to much British humour. Such is life in the colonies.

whigwam wrote:

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:I think the reference to human scientists is just a half-clever reference and doesn't really say anything about the Necrons' background. Much like Fyodor Karamazov, another beat-you-over-the-head-obvious reference (or who knows, maybe his parents were big Dostoevsky fans...)

Ghazgkull Maga Uruk Thrakka. (Think that's how it's spelled...)
Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

Or more recently..."Imotekh". GW loves a bad pun.
What is Ghaz's name referencing though? I just figured "Thrakk" sounded like what he might do to an opponent's skull.

Margaret Thatcher...
Mag-Uruk Thrakka

Ah, I am oblivious to much British humour. Such is life in the colonies.

It's a fairly obscure pun but once you see it you can't forget it...

You realise that Carl gauss and nicolas tesla were actually time travelling necrons that left the tech here in the first place? They weren't human!

kitch102 wrote:You realise that Carl gauss and nicolas tesla were actually time travelling necrons that left the tech here in the first place? They weren't human!

They were the first Necrons who awoken and got flesh bodies.

I could actually believe that about Tesla. Dude was an awesome combination of crazy smart and crazy.

daveNYC wrote:I could actually believe that about Tesla. Dude was an awesome combination of crazy smart and crazy.

Unfortunately that awesome combination was his undoing, and the reason he died penniless and alone (save for his pigeon wife).

purplefood wrote:

whigwam wrote:Dark Angels and Lion el Johnson.

This connection?

Gauss and Teslas are units of measurement.

Science survives longer than pop-culture.

It's also no secret why 1 Tesla is equal to 10,000 Gauss.

DarknessEternal wrote:Gauss and Teslas are units of measurement.

Science survives longer than pop-culture.

It's also no secret why 1 Tesla is equal to 10,000 Gauss.

Aren't the Necrons supposed to predate humanity itself? No matter how you slice it, Necrons referencing comparatively primitive earth technology is nonsensical. Necrons speaking English is nonsensical. The names are made up for our benefit, I don't think anyone should read into them too much.

I doubt its a hint at the scientists. Gauss is gauss, it sounded cool and it does cool things. Gauss it is. A weapon that shoots electricity? Hm... Tesla... Tesla coil... Tesla weapons! Victory.

Actually neither Gauss nor Tesla invented Death Ray guns. It is just cool names.

Kroothawk wrote:Actually neither Gauss nor Tesla invented Death Ray guns. It is just cool names.

In 1934 Tesla wrote a letter to JP Morgan claiming to have designed a "Teleforce" Ray-essentially a large Charged Particle Beam Projector. Alas, it was dependant on four other inventions, and was never actually produced. It would, Tesla claimed, fire minute Tungsten or Mercury particles out at 48 times the speed of sound using electrostatic repulsion.

In 1940, Tesla estimated the cost to produce to be $2 Million

He was a genius, but absolutley bonkers

purplefood wrote:In 'Prospero Burns' they mention Shakespeare... They manage to get some of his plays from a damaged library.

He's also quoted at the start of Legion, so they knew about him during the Heresy.

The HH if sprinkled with alot of references like that. "Machine Heal Thyself" from Mecahnicum is a paraphrase - the Emperor seems to be quite the plagarist (but then again copyright laws are millenia gone so he can get away with it.)

As far as Gauss goes? They might know about that in some way or form, but I doubt you could justify that from Necron weaponry. Necron gauss weapons have about as much to do with electromagnetism as a lasgun does (and yes I know photons are EM radiation. That's kinda the point.) "Gauss" tends to be one of those overused terms in sci fi, I think (EG "gauss rifle/cannon" is often another term for coilgun, if a poor one.)

kitch102 wrote:You realise that Carl gauss and nicolas tesla were actually time travelling necrons that left the tech here in the first place? They weren't human!

Hey don't insult our scientist. The man was a living legend and deserves respect.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kroothawk wrote:Actually neither Gauss nor Tesla invented Death Ray guns.

Tesla said that he know how to build one, but only in theory. He was very weird in his last 10 years of life. Talking about bomb who can tear Earth in part, Deathrays, Earthquake machines... He even started a project to give all world free electricity, but oil companies said to him "NO".

Nerds. NERDS. NEEEEEEEEERRDDDDSS!!!!!

Why does anything exist? Is it possible that EVERYTHING necron is a 'english translation' so that it can be understood and played??

The Grundel wrote:Nerds. NERDS. NEEEEEEEEERRDDDDSS!!!!!

Why does anything exist? Is it possible that EVERYTHING necron is a 'english translation' so that it can be understood and played??

Oh sweet irony.

whigwam wrote:

DarknessEternal wrote:Gauss and Teslas are units of measurement.

Science survives longer than pop-culture.

It's also no secret why 1 Tesla is equal to 10,000 Gauss.

Aren't the Necrons supposed to predate humanity itself? No matter how you slice it, Necrons referencing comparatively primitive earth technology is nonsensical. Necrons speaking English is nonsensical. The names are made up for our benefit, I don't think anyone should read into them too much.

I don't understand your post, you're being ambiguous.

Everything in 40k is named after its Imperial designation.