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And what would such a rule look like?

Probably like this






Necron leaders are quite varied so I'm sure there's at least one who would like to rule, however as a general trait for the race they are even more xenophobic than the Imperials are. Necrons care for nothing save themselves and wish to be masters of the whole Galaxy as they once were.

They might tolerate base life forms, but they want zero competing intelligent life.

The best other races might get is being used for experiments as the Necrons try to return to organic bodies and have souls once more. Otherwise they'd be quite happy to obliterate every other lifeform.

I think they may as a temporary tool towards restoring their empire, and as a fair few factions are concerned, to try and transplant themselves into them to cancel or reverse biotransference.

Possibly?

A sustained campaign of total extermination of all other species seems like a bad idea when trying to reverse bio-transference. And so some level of farming other species could be desirable until that problem is cracked.

Possibly. Many of the Necrons may have some form of madness or miss being flesh. Some have resorted to various ways to keep from descending further into madness, such as a character in the Twice-Dead King novels that sticks rigidly to tradition to the point of utter passivity and inability to act even when their ruler is mad. The character even acknowledges the flaw but said it is the rock upon which his mind rests, and that to compromise, to break from tradition, would be the crack that results in the entire edifice of his sanity crumbling.

I could see Necron rulers longing for the days of flesh again or longing for subjects, and wanting to act out their old roles as a means of keeping sane. The near mindless normal Necrons are basically like robotic skeletons, and so may not meet that need for proper subjects. Any such realm I would imagine would be like the Tomb Kings or like the Ossiarch Bonereapers from Age of Sigmar. Basically: don't meddle with Necron artifacts or structures, obey and do whatever you're told, and offer up the occasional sacrificial test subject to the Cryptek. I doubt the Necrons would be active rulers since their super technology could probably do anything better than what their subjects could do for them. The subjects would probably be left to their own devices most of the time when not acting as props for the Necron ruler. Perhaps they might be brought forth to provide a cheering crowd, or maybe the Necron would act like a king and judge in some judicial case.

In Warhammer 40,000: Gladius Relics of War the lore for the Necron city is that slaves are used to dig up tombs and collect ore from Al-Khemic Quarries. "To find the rare materials the Crypteks need to maintain and repair the living metal necrodermis and weaponry of the Necron troops, slaves live and die in their Al-Khemic quarries and smelters. Only a tiny fraction of the output is used—but it's critical to the Necrons' survival."

There are also Slave Mastaba used to construct new buildings. "Everyone has a place in Necron society. The weak-fleshed races of the Old Ones live out their days under crude shelters, where they scrape together their own food, before being sent out to excavate the Necron's long-buried tombs and retrieve the sleeping Necrons."

There even a research ability called Trusted Slaves that increase resources. "Putting some faith in the enslaved young races of Old One creation and improving their lot might seem foolish, but it increases productivity."

Necrons actively do take vassals of other species, its not merely possible or something to be imagined. The Sautekh and Altymhor dynasties have hundreds of non-necron client planets, and the Sautekh have been the studio army for most editions, pictured on the box art and codex covers with the most important special character before the silent king model was released.

The sautekh take tribute from these different species' societies, and the altymhor are the ones shown to subvert a specifically human government.

The dynasties don't have huge populations or a land thirst, where they would need to motivate their warriors by offering homesteads out on the frontier. The necron population are robots who are mostly asleep, this is way different than for example europeans trying to settle north america and promising people land if theyll just take passage and work for a few years. When they subjugate a system it can be enough for them to have the existing occupants hang out there and do some mining for them.