Waking Dead

I found this on (I think) Warpshadow; can’t remember the author, but props to them for pulling all this together. Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting background material, and seems to pull together a lot of fiction from a number of the Codices and novels.

The Void Dragon

It is hinted in some background material that the Void Dragon is residing in stasis on Mars and is being venerated by a hidden faction within the Adeptus Mechanicus (known as the Cult of the Dragon), who believe it to be their Machine God. The Void Dragon is also hinted at perhaps being the most powerful of the C’tan, in ages past it would obliterate entire systems which was why the Eldar factioned the Talismans of Vaul to defeat it. Furthermore, an Eldar vehicle exists called a Void Dragon which is perhaps credited to this C’tan’s fearsome reputation.

The Outsider

A C’tan that went insane due to its consumption of other C’tan after being tricked by the Laughing God of the Eldar. Its precise location is likely the Dyson Sphere, as this is where the Tech-Priest was driven insane, a symptom caused by the insanity of the Outsider since he is himself insane.

Dyson Sphere

The C’tan possess a Dyson Sphere, which is interfering with psychic communications for light years around. It may be part of their Great Ward. Adept Cortswain, a character in the Necron Codex, was taken to this sphere (or one like it) where he became insane by what he calls the ‘Lord of Insanity.’ A creature matching the description of the Deceiver’s accustomed avatar (a golden figure with horns) was seen on the planet where Cortswain was taken, where it almost killed Cypher. Contrary to fan speculation, no firm identity can be easily established for the “One Who Dwells Beyond” which resides within the sphere.

The Nightbringer

The first C’tan awakened by the Necrontyr, spawned from their own sun. It is known as Kaelis Ra in the Eldar language, literally ‘destroyer of light’. It was once powerful enough to impress its image as that of the Angel of Death on the psyche of the younger races, except the Krork, who are speculated to have become Orks; but it was almost destroyed when the Laughing God revealed a weak spot in its defence to Khaine. The battle between Khaine and Nightbringer was titanic, but Khaine was the better; however, destroying his foe’s living metal body ultimately proved a hollow victory.

Eventually the Nightbringer went to the planet Pavonis and rested. It had almost starved after the Deceiver disclosed its location to the remaining races of the galaxy, who assembled an armada to destroy its ship, and cut off its food supply during its long sleep. This was somewhat successful;- the Nightbringer was greatly weakened, and its dreaded ship was lost in the Warp but not yet destroyed. Space Marines under the command of Captain Uriel Ventris forced the Nightbringer to retreat from Pavonis by procuring the beacon that can recall his ship and threatening to destroy it. Rather than risk the permanent loss of the terrifying ship, the Nightbringer left Pavonis.

The Deceiver

This entity, named Mephet’ran, the Messenger, by the Necrontyr was the first C’tan to communicate directly with the Necrontyr. Also known as the Jackal God by the Eldar race, it has journeyed the galaxy since its reawakening, and has been weaving plots and subtle machinations ever since, including the destruction of most of the Eldar weapons known as the Talismans of Vaul (The Blackstone Fortresses) in the Gothic War which it orchestrated, which are designed to destroy the C’tan. The Deceiver is physically the weakest of the C’tan, but its incredible cunning compensates for this.

Five C’tan?

While this would contradict previous material, an unknown C’tan, apparently not one of those identified above, was a central plot element of the novel Dawn of War: Ascension (Goto, 2005). This used a Shroud class light cruiser, a weak ship by Necron standards, as its flagship. The vessel was destroyed, and the C’tan’s location is unknown.

Seneschal

Background material published in White Dwarf (Haines, 2003), indicates that there was a C’tan near to waking on the planet Seneschal in the 41st millennium. Notable is that its servants destroyed six stars to provide it with food. The planet was destroyed by the Imperium to prevent the C’tan from waking.

Hope you enjoyed that – not that it’ll matter when my Necron hordes are making another WBB roll and peppering you with more Gauss fire…