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A TREATISE ON THE NECRON WARRIOR

By Magos-Ultima Yvan X-3

Space Marines of the Relictors Chapter were able to successfully destroy the power core of a Necrontyr tomb world in the xenos-held Fire Stars sector of Segmentum Obscurus. While the planet unfortunately imploded, taking most of the invaluable xenos archaeotech with it, the Relictors managed to retrieve a number of technological artefacts.

I was able to acquire the “corpse” of a Necron warrior for analysis. The Relictors unfortunately require the specimen to be returned to them after becoming aware I had borrowed it, and as their vessels are considerably faster than mine, I must conduct this post mortem with unaccustomed haste.

The Necron warrior wears a suit of armour which superficially resembles the human skeleton in appearance. This armour is extremely difficult to penetrate using standard cutting tools, and is somewhere between Astartes power armour and Imperial Guard carapace armour in density and cogence. There are no weak joints, no seams, no welding points and indeed no other indication of how the armour is sealed.

Upon cutting through the armour, it appears that either the inhabitant possesses no physical form, or the armour continues to function on its own; all we could find of an occupant was a quantity of dust weighing two point one pounds, which I will send to the Biologis research outpost located in the Meltan Quartet system. I believe the xenos wearing the armour suffered termination of its life-function and decomposition of its body millennia ago, yet somehow the armour retained motive power and combat awareness.

Cutting open the faceplate reveals a hollow interior with no detectable neural interface. I have been unable to find anything corresponding to motors, power cells or fibre-bundles of any kind anywhere within the armour. It therefore remains a mystery how the armour functions, or is controlled by the wearer, or how it continues to function after the wearer is dead.

The eye lenses contain immaculate micro-cogitators of unknown function. It is reasonable to assume these are tactical and surveyor systems. I have removed these for later analysis. At cursory inspection, these micro-cogitators, which require molecular vision to perceive, are supremely advanced; the equivalent Astartes auto-senses are exponentially larger and heavier.

The armour is quite dense and completely solid: there are no inner layers to absorb recoil or provide multiple protective layers. The metal it is constructed from appears to be capable of self-repair, according to various combat reports I availed myself of while perusing the Relictors’ database, something they have also taken exception to now they are aware I did it.

However, whatever regenerative properties the armour possessed in combat now appear to have been neutralised, as it has not attempted to repair itself at all. There was also considerable battle-damage caused by numerous bolter shell impacts, and significant scratching across the torso by an Astartes chainsword, and these were not auto-repaired either. Weaponry lacking a strong armour-piercing capability would most likely be defeated by this armour with ease.

The armour was resistant to most chemical and surveyor analyses, but I have been able to determine that it is constructed entirely from a single substance and is not an alloy or composite. The strength of this metal, to provide such protection on its own without the introduction of additional materials, is therefore very significant. Unfortunately the exact chemical structure is difficult to define and I would certainly be unable to replicate it in the time available, if it was even possible using Imperial technology. Truly, the xenos construction of this suit is mystifying indeed.

The Relictors have stated in their reports that Necron warriors generally teleport away from combat if they suffer significant damage which even their armour cannot self-repair. Very occasionally, vanquished Necron warriors do not teleport away and can be retrieved for analysis. The requirements for teleportation failure are unknown, but in this case it seems logical to assume the causative factor was the destruction of the Necron warrior’s home planet. I am unable to determine the exact mechanism for teleportation so it seems contextually appropriate to assume the teleportation system lies somewhere within the Necron tomb itself, and this possesses staggeringly advanced technology to keep track of countless individuals and retrieve them from danger.

The Necron warrior is six feet three inches in height, and physically is a perfect replica of other Warriors according to the Relictors. This could mean the Necron Warriors are clones, but it seems more likely the dimensions of each Warrior differ to a degree only a tech-adept’s superior cortical response would determine; there would therefore be less variance between Necron individuals than there are among the masses of Humanity.

While the lack of any obvious motive power means I am unable to test my hypotheses, Relictor reports indicate the Necrons Warriors are individually stronger and hardier than an unmodified human, though they are still no match for the Astartes on an individual basis. Necron Warriors possess excellent night-vision and are able to define targets from greater distances than unmodified humans, with Necron eyesight apparently being at least as sharp and long-ranged as those of Astartes wearing power armour.

Necron Warriors are excellent shots due to their enhanced vision and advanced auto-senses, but in hand to hand combat they are slow and awkward, and if an Imperial Guardsman armed with armour-piercing weaponry were to hold his nerve, he could most likely defeat the average Necron in close assault.

In fact, the Necrons seem to lack mobility on foot, relying on unknown technology to teleport into combat or advanced skimmers to deploy across the battlefield. Humans are much more lithe and agile, and lack the significant mass of the Necron’s armoured exoskeleton, which means that even on foot, the Imperial Guard might out-manoeuvre Necrons without access to such technologies.

I have been unable to ascertain anything more useful in the time allowed. There appear to be no vulnerabilities except weapons which are specifically designed to counteract heavily armoured infantry. My recommendation for soldiers of the Imperial Guard confronting such xenos abominations would be to attack using autocannons and melta weapons at range, or to close in with power weapons and krak grenades for optimum lethality.

Very good piece!

A couple things though.

-Why is there dust inside the warrior?

-Living metal is indeed an alloy

-Necron warriors are about the height (Probably a couple inches shorter) of your average astartes

Love these AdMech reports

Top notch again NP. However I agree with Kharns points overall.

Thanks chaps, I'm glad you liked it

I've actually got little idea about the Necrons so I made most of it up. What are your sources for the above points, Kharn? If I can find them I will re-write the relevant parts of the story.

Metal as an alloy is stated in the Cron codex.

The dust thing has never been offically mentioned I think so putting it in is creative license which is fine. Personally however I prefer the idea of the Crons being "empty", soulless automatons.

Not sure theres any offical height measurements for warriors but the fact that model wise they are slightly hunched, if one was spread out head to toe whilst dead, it probably would come close to astartes 7 feet ish.

I love these Xenopaedias NoPoet. It's nice to see the superstition that comes with these as well, and that the documenter hasn't realized that it isn't armor, but that he is looking at the necron itself. Keep up the good work, each and every one of these has been a very nice addition to my day.

NoPoet wrote:Thanks chaps, I'm glad you liked it

I've actually got little idea about the Necrons so I made most of it up. What are your sources for the above points, Kharn? If I can find them I will re-write the relevant parts of the story.

Yeah, no problem.

And so the Necrontyr became the Necrons, their flesh seared away in the furnaces of biotransference and replaced by living metal and cold, soulless purpose.

Codex Necrons: Pg 6
If you look at the Warriors and such, you can see that the Skeleton has been replaced as well. They have nothing organic, only metal.

Necron vehicles are composed of a semi-sentient alloy capable of incredible feats of resilience and auto-reconstitution.

Codex: Necrons Pg 112

Thanks for the references mate. I can come back at a later time to re-write this. I'm gonna work on finishing the Eldar one first, and I'm doing one based on the Magma Hounds renegade Astartes.

 NoPoet wrote:
Thanks for the references mate. I can come back at a later time to re-write this. I'm gonna work on finishing the Eldar one first, and I'm doing one based on the Magma Hounds renegade Astartes.

No problem! If you need any more help on Necrons let me know.

And I can't wait to see what you do next, fantastic writing.

Thanks a lot It's amazing to get such feedback so quickly.

I probably will need a lot of help with the Crons in future as my friend and I are working on a collaborative project about Imperial explorators waking up a tomb world, and the Imperium and Eldar have to team up to kick robot arse.

 NoPoet wrote:
Thanks a lot It's amazing to get such feedback so quickly.

I probably will need a lot of help with the Crons in future as my friend and I are working on a collaborative project about Imperial explorators waking up a tomb world, and the Imperium and Eldar have to team up to kick robot arse.

Sounds like you guys have quite the full plate

My plate is full like you wouldn't believe mate, I'm having woman trouble that can only be described as "extraordinary". If only there was a way to turn it into a 40K story, then at least I could get the satisfaction of slaying them in close combat.

I read this Necron post mortem out to my writing group on Monday. They don't know a thing about 40K but they seemed to enjoy it and they described my style as "a modern Conan-Doyle", which has got to be one of the most interesting compliments I've ever had.

Maybe I could write a 40K version of Hound of the Baskervilles...

 NoPoet wrote:
My plate is full like you wouldn't believe mate, I'm having woman trouble that can only be described as "extraordinary". If only there was a way to turn it into a 40K story, then at least I could get the satisfaction of slaying them in close combat.

I read this Necron post mortem out to my writing group on Monday. They don't know a thing about 40K but they seemed to enjoy it and they described my style as "a modern Conan-Doyle", which has got to be one of the most interesting compliments I've ever had.

Maybe I could write a 40K version of Hound of the Baskervilles...

You could always portray said women as a Greater Daemon of Chaos?

On the 40k Hound of the Baskervilles, that would leand itself extremly well to the setting, you could go so many ways( Xeno, Daemon, Daemon engien or anything between). Alternativly you could modify a already excisting legend from the 40k setting such as the one linked below.
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Curse_of_Solomon

They'd both be Heralds of Nurgle, because they're stinking great turds who corrupt everyone around them.

I was thinking of a slightly tongue in cheek story entitled Flesh Hound of the Baskervilles but you're right, the possibilities are endless.

I've never heard of the Curse of Solomon... Will check that out now. Thanks!

Edit: That would make an absolutely stunning tale of darkness and horror... The Curse of Solomon it is!

 NoPoet wrote:
They'd both be Heralds of Nurgle, because they're stinking great turds who corrupt everyone around them.

I was thinking of a slightly tongue in cheek story entitled Flesh Hound of the Baskervilles but you're right, the possibilities are endless.

I've never heard of the Curse of Solomon... Will check that out now. Thanks!

Edit: That would make an absolutely stunning tale of darkness and horror... The Curse of Solomon it is!

Oh dear Well that is gloomy indeed.
Yes the The cruse of Solomon is a very intresting tale, and no problem. Always happy to be of help

Gloomy is one word. I can't believe I'm not depressed, it's bad enough having a psycho ex in your life without one of your colleagues (who you've never so much as kissed, except on the forehead) at it as well. I think I might write Inquisitorial reports on one of them in particular, I could call her "The Laurel Queen" as that would be quite an unusual nickname for a Nurgle daemon and it would show an alternative aspect of the Plague God's worship.

The Solomon story is a few weeks away yet as I have got a backlog of fiction, but maybe my Inquisitorial report could lead into it?

You could definitly tie your Inqusitorial report into the myths about Solomon in general, in fact that would be a very good way to iniate the story with a new main characther perhaps? Or the same Magos for that matter.
No problem, your work is always worth waiting for