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So life of a human in a Tau world has been covered, recovered uncovered and gone over at length, life in a chaos world has been the subject of a number of BL books and life in the Imperium is the subject of a ton of books but what with the relatively new look on Necron's the description of them conquering worlds or taking over those who just surrender. Assuming they don't feel the need to exterminate the locals for reasons, what would life be like under Necron Rule.

I mean exterminating the populace seems redundant if they have already surrendered, there's always converting the locals into Necrons but we don't know if Necrons can still do that and it would make surrendering a far less common result.

So assuming the Necron legions rock up, the incumbent imperial government surrenders, the legion moves on leaving a small garrison and minor Necron noble in charge to run the place. What does this actually mean for the people?

Totally depends on the Necron Lord in charge of the invasion.

Given that some Necrons want to return to fleshiness, I suspect that those Lords have zoo-planets.

In the book Dead Men Walking, the humans were basically just enslaved and doing brutal labor. I imagine humans would simply be exploited until they died from starvation/exposure/exhaustion/etc, or at most, minimally maintained for the Lord's purposes.

There's no chairs.... yeah...

In the infamous Damnos Incident the Necron terms were "Surrender AND die".

The book even has a techpriest point out that that translation was *very* deliberate on the part of the Necrons.

In the 5th ed codex any mention of survivors not being killed had them either put in Trazyns museum, dissected alive by a mad Cryptek(Orikan) or used as payment for a Cypteks aid

Though no fluff has actually detailed extensively what life is like under Necron rule, which I admit is an interesting question, it is pertinent to mention that Imotekh is described as having *Dozens* of alien empires and nations as vassals to him.

Since the term *vassal* and not *slave* is being used that seems to imply that they're permitted a degree of autonomy and self-rule which, honestly, is very fascinating. I would like a bit more of a description of what a vassal state to the Sautekh Dynasty is like, makes Imotekh also more of a pragmatist since he seems to determine that annihilation when not necessary is not prudent or profitable for him.

But as for the actual question "What is it like?" There isn't a clear answer at all. Not all Necron permit such things, only Imotekh is specifically mentioned to have vassals, and no description of these vassals beyond their existence has been forthcoming*.

Still its interesting to think about.

*To my knowledge, of course.

Best thread title ever btw.

It's an interesting question too. Like others have said, I think it would depend largely on the Lord. But there's all sorts of gruesome things that could be on offer.

I can't imagine being the playthings of a Necron Lord would be all that much fun.

Didn't the recent fluffening see a bunch of Necron Lords rebel against the C'tan?
I'm thinking it's the C'tan & Co's interest to eventually eradicate all life in the galaxy, or at least, all sapient life., so in that case, I guess the Rebel Lords don't want to do such a thing, and as mentioned above by Selym, some want to return to Fleshiness, and thus, remove their link to the C'tan?

Maybe they'd use a vassal forgeworld to learn how to undo machinification. (Although I'm pretty sure fleshcraft is heretical), and so in that case, maybe mild slavery, or some sort of collaborative effort. Could just end up being like a business hierarchy.

The problem isn't making a body though, the problem is transferring the mind and soul into an organic form.

Only the C'tan seem to know how to do that.

I'd imagine if you had a fairly reasonable, non-insane dynasty it wouldn't be too bad. Sure, you might have to put Dynasty symbols on your flags, and build statues of your new master, but that's not really any different to an Imperial world.

I doubt you'd have to raise armed forces like the Guard, and there likely wouldn't be anything more than a symbolic tithe ("You have nothing we need").

Aside from Imotekh, only the Altymhor Dynasty was mentioned to have human slaves on planet Aryand.

There are some descriptions of human slaves on Necron World in the 'World Engine' novel.

Slaves attend their lords, do cleaning and menial labor, some of them are brainwashed to act as overseers/spies in their population. Genrally Necron nobility pays little regard to them (thinks of them as a furniture, so to say).

All in all, they are disregarded and malnourished. Their carcasses are processed down to treats for Flayed Ones and (probably) foodstuff for other slaves. Also, in the novel, there was a calculating machine/interface made from human brains for communication with Space Marines.

In gorkamorka the diggas (humans) live in harmony with the necrons with the necrons protecting the diggas(?). Not sure if that's been retconned since though.

Someone mentioned in the thread about hard labour - what would be the purpose? Human's aren't exactly efficient for that kind of thing in a world of robots and creatures stronger than humans a human slave would be more of a novelty no good for work but interesting and perhaps with some prestige attached to it.

I don't know much about the recent necrons but they used to seek souls to consume (or something) in which case I could imagine them like a vampire, let the people live normally but demand a tithe of humans to consume; such a thing might be dressed in ritual with the humans worshipping the necron like a god with the sacrifice dressed up and looked upon with pride.

mdeceiver79 wrote:

Someone mentioned in the thread about hard labour - what would be the purpose?

It's a no-input, all-output thing. Wander up to a human world, point guns at it and demand resources from them. The humans will enslave themselves.

Torquar wrote:

I doubt you'd have to raise armed forces like the Guard, and there likely wouldn't be anything more than a symbolic tithe ("You have nothing we need").

I can think of a few things human worlds might have that necrons would need.

Tunstennnn
Adamanatium
Carbon
Crystals

- all could be refined for Necron repair and manufacture. Self repair systems don't generate metal out of thin air, they'd need suitable matter to transmutate or better yet, just the correct type of matter.

FTL Travel- even trade ships go faster than Necron stuff. The 'Crons have an aversion to travelling through the warp themselves, but human or xeno vassals can act as vanguard forces to spread the 'good word' regarding the benevolent reign of Overlord Governator, the red fisted Tyrant of Cohleifurnya.

Gold
Space Gold
Jewels

The newcrons have a lot of ornamentation that they previously lacked. That has to come from somewhere.

Fleeeeesh

test subjects, food, souls to power xenotech. Offer your firstborn to the metal overlords and you shall be spared.

 Selym wrote:

mdeceiver79 wrote:

Someone mentioned in the thread about hard labour - what would be the purpose?

It's a no-input, all-output thing. Wander up to a human world, point guns at it and demand resources from them. The humans will enslave themselves.

Great point thats a very probable outcome of an overwhelmingly powerful opposing force.

What would necrons even want though? Their population and technology already exists inside tombs, their energy sources are ever lasting, their metal is self repairing. Humans giving them metals or water would be like a chimp giving us a leaf or handful of dirt. (ah post below yours sort of covers this)

mdeceiver79 wrote:

 Selym wrote:

mdeceiver79 wrote:

Someone mentioned in the thread about hard labour - what would be the purpose?

It's a no-input, all-output thing. Wander up to a human world, point guns at it and demand resources from them. The humans will enslave themselves.

Great point thats a very probable outcome of an overwhelmingly powerful opposing force.

What would necrons even want though? Their population and technology already exists inside tombs, their energy sources are ever lasting, their metal is self repairing. Humans giving them metals or water would be like a chimp giving us a leaf or handful of dirt. (ah post below yours sort of covers this)

They still need raw resources to create more weapons and vehicles, and repair isn't free.
Not to mention that they would want subjects for experience. In both the new and the old fluff, it was implied that the necrons have in interest in experimenting with human subjects, dissection being a common theme.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

mdeceiver79 wrote:

 Selym wrote:

mdeceiver79 wrote:

Someone mentioned in the thread about hard labour - what would be the purpose?

It's a no-input, all-output thing. Wander up to a human world, point guns at it and demand resources from them. The humans will enslave themselves.

Great point thats a very probable outcome of an overwhelmingly powerful opposing force.

What would necrons even want though? Their population and technology already exists inside tombs, their energy sources are ever lasting, their metal is self repairing. Humans giving them metals or water would be like a chimp giving us a leaf or handful of dirt. (ah post below yours sort of covers this)

They still need raw resources to create more weapons and vehicles, and repair isn't free.
Not to mention that they would want subjects for experience. In both the new and the old fluff, it was implied that the necrons have in interest in experimenting with human subjects, dissection being a common theme.

I agree that necrons will probably need to replenish their stocks of materials to repair their bodies and vehicles, but aren't scarabs already far more efficient than humans at this task? In the 5th Ed codex their entry went into a good amount of detail about how they could eat anything and process it into energy, and then use that energy to build anything at all, kind of like mechanical Tyranid rip-offs. The example they gave was that given enough time, a swarm of scarabs could eat an entire hive city, and then process that material into a brand new tomb world or fleet.
However, some worlds do love human plunder for some strange reason, namely Trantis, the raiders moon. The necrons there raid the agri world of Mandal from their moon tomb world, and they have taken so much plunder that the moon is slowly drowning in stolen goods which they have no use for, and no way to export since they are cut off from the webway. Trantis could be an exception though, as perhaps some mental entropy in the nobles of the world has caused an obsession with human/mortal goods.
I think the real use for humans in necron society would be twofold. One, as status symbols among lords. Wasn't there a bit of fluff where a sautekh overlord tried to seize power from Imotekh by taking a bunch of vassal worlds?
I think you are right about the second use though. Crypteks seem to love horrible medical experimentations, whether it is to further a goal like apotheosis, or whether it's just for gak and giggles.

Anrakyr-the-Traveller wrote:
aren't scarabs already far more efficient than humans at this task?.

Yes, but then you have to risk scarabs. If humans are already there, why not make them do all the legwork? Especially if you plan to kill them anyway, the labour will make them a softer target.

I was thinking their could also be political reasons with how court nobles tend to want to usurp each other.

Say your Imotekh and an imperial world has just surrendered and you happen to have an annoying noble, now Imotekh is painted as a very pragmatic and logical individual, doesn't really want to kill the noble so instead gifts stewardship of this new realm to the noble and his own court, the planet has to pay a modest sum of tithe to the dynasty and has a garrison of say 200 warriors, more than enough to maintain control of the planet.

The noble's own arrogance takes over, he has to make this planet the best in the entire dynastic domain for his own grandiose ego and even if he tries to rebel, so what 200 warriors would be crushed by a single legion of immortals.

Do this with a dozen pesky nobles all trying to outdo each other by developing their domain, the lives of those who live there might actually get better, lets face it the imperium is an ideal culture to vassalize as its mainly feudal, the peasant tier couldn;t care less whose in charge overall just who is directly above. Save changing the flags and statues I doubt most civilians would notice the change in management

What if their AI is advanced enough to watch and learn from the Human's behaviours, in order to then be able to replicate being properly sapient again?

Also:
You're hanging your coat,
They're hanging their coats over there.

 Buddingsquaw wrote:
What if their AI is advanced enough to watch and learn from the Human's behaviours, in order to then be able to replicate being properly sapient again?

Also:
You're hanging your coat,
They're hanging their coats over there.

Well the necrons don't want to be similar to sapient beings. They want to be sapient again. The minds of nobles are already far more advanced than a normal living creature. The problem is that they lost their souls (or at least most of them) in the process, and they want to get them back. AI replication won't cut it because their society is already far more advanced than any other in the galaxy, but their lack of soul makes them feel terrible and hollow all the time. They hope by returning to living bodies, this will go away.

 =Angel= wrote:

FTL Travel- even trade ships go faster than Necron stuff. The 'Crons have an aversion to travelling through the warp themselves, but human or xeno vassals can act as vanguard forces to spread the 'good word' regarding the benevolent reign of Overlord Governator, the red fisted Tyrant of Cohleifurnya.

Necrons already have the most effective FTL in their Inertialess Drives. I know people thought they'd been retconned out as they weren't mentioned in the 5e codex, but they were confirmed in the Shield of Baal campaign.

Torquar wrote:

 =Angel= wrote:

FTL Travel- even trade ships go faster than Necron stuff. The 'Crons have an aversion to travelling through the warp themselves, but human or xeno vassals can act as vanguard forces to spread the 'good word' regarding the benevolent reign of Overlord Governator, the red fisted Tyrant of Cohleifurnya.

Necrons already have the most effective FTL in their Inertialess Drives. I know people thought they'd been retconned out as they weren't mentioned in the 5e codex, but they were confirmed in the Shield of Baal campaign.

That's great news. The webway reliance was dumb.
I know they'd be reliable and 0% chance of being dragged into hell for eternity, are they as fast/faster than warp travel?

 =Angel= wrote:

Torquar wrote:

 =Angel= wrote:

FTL Travel- even trade ships go faster than Necron stuff. The 'Crons have an aversion to travelling through the warp themselves, but human or xeno vassals can act as vanguard forces to spread the 'good word' regarding the benevolent reign of Overlord Governator, the red fisted Tyrant of Cohleifurnya.

Necrons already have the most effective FTL in their Inertialess Drives. I know people thought they'd been retconned out as they weren't mentioned in the 5e codex, but they were confirmed in the Shield of Baal campaign.

That's great news. The webway reliance was dumb.
I know they'd be reliable and 0% chance of being dragged into hell for eternity, are they as fast/faster than warp travel?

I'm pretty sure their Pylon system was near-instantaneous.
As for the Inertialess drive, that has a precise travel time scale, due to it not using the warp at all. It's like driving a car, in that sense.
Can't find any mention in the lore, anywhere, as to how fast it typically is. Best bet is to assume it's as fast as the Planet Express ship from Futurama, which roughly does the same thing.

Now I believe the Inertialess drive is based off the Alcubierre drive, if you're willing to have a gander at that on Wikipedia. NASA actually proved the principal works, which is exciting.
You may have seen concept art for a spacecraft that has 2 large rings around it; one in front of the other. - That's an Alcubierre powered vessel.

 =Angel= wrote:

Can't find any mention in the lore, anywhere, as to how fast it typically is. Best bet is to assume it's as fast as the Planet Express ship from Futurama, which roughly does the same thing.

Speed of plot I think . Fast enough to get Anrakyr and his fleet from wherever the hell they were to the Cryptus system in time to assist the Mephrit Dynasty.