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I have no idea why, but this has been bothering me. What did the Necrons look like before Biotransference? A Google image search show several fan drawings, but is there anything official from GW? Assuming the Necrons are based off of Necrontyr skeletons, we know that they were around eight feet tall (assuming their size wasn't exaggerated), had long limbs and an elongated jaw, and their upper bodies were significantly wider than their lower bodies (that hip/ribcage ratio always seemed a little off to me). So basically, does anyone know of an official drawing of a pre-Biotransference Necrontyr from one of the old codices?

I'm afraid there aren't any official drawings of the Necrontyr pre-biotransferance, or even a cannonical description of them to be found.

Probably really tall humanoids given by how the Necron's look like and how the C'tans have human-esque forms (while C'tans can reshape them, they were originally created by the Necrontyrs and the C'tans probably had no concept of physical forms before).

I always pictured them as decrepid Eldar (they were described as a miserable and short-lived people, so I always thought of them as shriveled old dudes)

You might want to read all of the recent Black Library books published which feature the Necrons.

I believe, but might be a little off, that there is one point where a Necron Lord or Cryptek makes a comment or thinks about how modern humans look very much like pre-transferrence Necrontyr. My take is that the Space Skeletons were once supposed to be Space Men.


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 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Probably really tall humanoids given by how the Necron's look like and how the C'tans have human-esque forms (while C'tans can reshape them, they were originally created by the Necrontyrs and the C'tans probably had no concept of physical forms before).

I always pictured them as decrepid Eldar (they were described as a miserable and short-lived people, so I always thought of them as shriveled old dudes)

Why would you read "short-lived" as "old dudes"? If anything, I'd imagine a bunch of VERY tired looking thirty year olds.

This bothers me almost as much as what the Old Ones looked like, though at least with that, they have speculations.

Pretty much how they look now, except with flesh and blood in place of necrodermis. Tall, wide-shouldered, long-faced.

A lot of the fan images I found on Google seem to depict them like the traditional "Greys" but with smaller heads.

Crystal-Maze wrote:
I'm afraid there aren't any official drawings of the Necrontyr pre-biotransferance, or even a cannonical description of them to be found.

there was indeed a description in the 3rd edition codex I believe or perhaps BFG...but that was before they completely took a 180 on the lore/fluff....

Short lived humanoids with boils and lesions caused from the harsh radiation of their sun. It's was what drove them to sacrifice their bodies for eternal servitude and immortality in a metal body

again that was before the lore completely changed

 Rune Stonegrinder wrote:

Short lived humanoids with boils and lesions caused from the harsh radiation of their sun.

Wouldn't that have ceased to be an issue relatively early on? Once they were able to leave their solar system the radiation wouldn't be a problem. And that's assuming they didn't just build underground in the first place.

If I recall correctly even after they learned how to leave their home world the generations of being bombarded radiation left them with permanent damage even as they moved onto other planets. I'm not sure if this is still current given the changes from the 5th/7th edition codexes.

Torquar wrote:

 Rune Stonegrinder wrote:

Short lived humanoids with boils and lesions caused from the harsh radiation of their sun.

Wouldn't that have ceased to be an issue relatively early on? Once they were able to leave their solar system the radiation wouldn't be a problem. And that's assuming they didn't just build underground in the first place.

Not sure wasn't my storyline, but I agree with above, the problem persisted through generations, when the C'Tan offered them a pain free life as there eternal serventsnthe entire race opted out of mortality.

 Kriswall wrote:
You might want to read all of the recent Black Library books published which feature the Necrons.

I believe, but might be a little off, that there is one point where a Necron Lord or Cryptek makes a comment or thinks about how modern humans look very much like pre-transferrence Necrontyr. My take is that the Space Skeletons were once supposed to be Space Men.


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 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Probably really tall humanoids given by how the Necron's look like and how the C'tans have human-esque forms (while C'tans can reshape them, they were originally created by the Necrontyrs and the C'tans probably had no concept of physical forms before).

I always pictured them as decrepid Eldar (they were described as a miserable and short-lived people, so I always thought of them as shriveled old dudes)

Why would you read "short-lived" as "old dudes"? If anything, I'd imagine a bunch of VERY tired looking thirty year olds.

I imagine they hit their prime much faster than compared to humans, hence looking old.

I was young, don't judge >.>

The wasted, irradiated, sickly people of OldCrons are no more, because it doesn't make any sense for a galaxy-spanning empire that lasted thousands if not millions of years. If you can bend space-time and harness stars, you can cure cancer.

 Psienesis wrote:
The wasted, irradiated, sickly people of OldCrons are no more, because it doesn't make any sense for a galaxy-spanning empire that lasted thousands if not millions of years. If you can bend space-time and harness stars, you can cure cancer.

This is one of the reasons I like the Newcrons better. Oldcrons were a dying race that was tricked into giving up their souls in exchange for shiny new bodies. They were then enslaved by their gods and told to harvest food, then were ordered to go to sleep so a new "crop" could grow. Newcrons were perhaps the most powerful race the galaxy has ever known until their "gods" told them to take these shiny new bodies to help them defeat their greatest enemy. After they figured out that they had been tricked, they rose up and enslaved their gods, and then decided to take a nap.

I imagine them as blue-grey in colour, looking like Fallout ghouls in the shape of the necron warrior model.

I bet they looked like... Tau

 Rune Stonegrinder wrote:

Crystal-Maze wrote:
I'm afraid there aren't any official drawings of the Necrontyr pre-biotransferance, or even a cannonical description of them to be found.

there was indeed a description in the 3rd edition codex I believe or perhaps BFG...but that was before they completely took a 180 on the lore/fluff....

Short lived humanoids with boils and lesions caused from the harsh radiation of their sun. It's was what drove them to sacrifice their bodies for eternal servitude and immortality in a metal body

again that was before the lore completely changed

I'm aware of the bit you mean, but thats not much of a description - they're obviously humanoid.

I guess similar to the Fall out ghouls but thinner

I always pictured them like the Tau.
Smart, can make anything. But weedy and short lived.
A bit of Khaos virus in their computers, enhances a chip, makes It seem like a chip or 4 is a god.
It would work into Gdubs current theory that everyone makes their own Gods.

Didn't they have tails?

Don't think so. None of the Warriors, by far the largest group of the formerly-living Necrons, have tails.

Considering the stylized structure of Necron skulls on their bodies, I'd suspect they'd basically just look like tall versions of the "greys". Very tall, intimidating beings with highly angular skulls.

I would assume they look something similar to this

 Korinov wrote:
Didn't they have tails?

Nah, the cryptek who designed the Praetorians was just a furry.

The Necrontyr did leave their homeworld but they encountered the old ones and were beaten back to their homeworld by them and the Eldar. That's when they discovered the C'Tan and changed their bodies to become the necrons. The C'Tan then ate their bodies and souls and their newfound immortality allowed them to beat the old ones... well mostly anyways. the old ones opened a rift in the warp as a last resort and another being came screaming through the rift eating all beings that were tied to the warp in anyway. They actually ended the old ones once and for all as the old ones were too weak from fighting the necrons to resist. The necrons were also beat to tiredness and did not have the strength to defeat the Eldar after the old ones so they went to sleep after conquering their former gods.

That actually raises a good question about the Praetorians, in that they had tails.
In a way that there are different Tau, there could've been different Necrontyr, which might give more credence to the Tau theory.

 Xerics wrote:
The Necrontyr did leave their homeworld but they encountered the old ones and were beaten back to their homeworld by them and the Eldar. That's when they discovered the C'Tan and changed their bodies to become the necrons. The C'Tan then ate their bodies and souls and their newfound immortality allowed them to beat the old ones... well mostly anyways. the old ones opened a rift in the warp as a last resort and another being came screaming through the rift eating all beings that were tied to the warp in anyway. They actually ended the old ones once and for all as the old ones were too weak from fighting the necrons to resist. The necrons were also beat to tiredness and did not have the strength to defeat the Eldar after the old ones so they went to sleep after conquering their former gods.

this is the first that I've ever heard o the Old Ones being definitely destroyed, GW always says that they either left the Galaxy, or died slow painful deaths due to then changes they wrought to the Warp. You wouldn't happen to have a source, would you?

 Xerics wrote:
The Necrontyr did leave their homeworld but they encountered the old ones and were beaten back to their homeworld by them and the Eldar. That's when they discovered the C'Tan and changed their bodies to become the necrons. The C'Tan then ate their bodies and souls and their newfound immortality allowed them to beat the old ones... well mostly anyways. the old ones opened a rift in the warp as a last resort and another being came screaming through the rift eating all beings that were tied to the warp in anyway. They actually ended the old ones once and for all as the old ones were too weak from fighting the necrons to resist. The necrons were also beat to tiredness and did not have the strength to defeat the Eldar after the old ones so they went to sleep after conquering their former gods.

Old fluff. Current fluff, the Necrons had a galaxy-spanning empire prone to periods of civil unrest between the Dynasties. Realizing this would eventually cause their empire to collapse, the Silent King directed the aggression of his people towards the Old Ones... though that did not end well, as they could not match the psychic might of the Old Ones. It was after this defeat they discovered the C'Tan. The rest is history.

Xerics wrote:The Necrontyr did leave their homeworld but they encountered the old ones and were beaten back to their homeworld by them and the Eldar. That's when they discovered the C'Tan and changed their bodies to become the necrons. The C'Tan then ate their bodies and souls and their newfound immortality allowed them to beat the old ones... well mostly anyways. the old ones opened a rift in the warp as a last resort and another being came screaming through the rift eating all beings that were tied to the warp in anyway. They actually ended the old ones once and for all as the old ones were too weak from fighting the necrons to resist. The necrons were also beat to tiredness and did not have the strength to defeat the Eldar after the old ones so they went to sleep after conquering their former gods.

A couple discrepancies here:
-The C'tan tricked them (sorta) about become Necrons
-The C'tan only ate the souls and energy, the bodies were burned and replaced
-The Old Ones didn't open a rift, it was all the war that was raging inside and out of the webways that tore reality asunder heralding the Enslaver Plague
-The Old Ones fled the Galaxy
-They killed the C'tan immediately after the Old Ones, instead of fighting everyone, which they could, the Silent King demanded sleep

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:That actually raises a good question about the Praetorians, in that they had tails.
In a way that there are different Tau, there could've been different Necrontyr, which might give more credence to the Tau theory.

If you think about it, the tail is an extension of the spine. I think that spine length represents social standing. This would explain why the higher up models have longer spines and such.

Warriors are normal, Immortals have the spine extended upward, Praetorians have the Spine extended through the cage thing and down into the tail. Look at Overlords and such.
Another prime example is Orikan, he has a very high standing and if you notice he has a quite a long tail.

The 'cage thing' is an anti-grav harness. It's a Necron jump pack.