[Being a study of the horrendous war between the Old Ones and the Necrontyr]
THE SLANN
At the beginning of time, when the first sentient life forms began forming
space empires at the speed of light, the Slann were amongst the first to reach
the stars. Their society had always been based on peaceful reflection of
knowledge, and this allowed them to quickly grow in the myriad fields of
technology with which they worked. Soon they found themselves colonizing star
systems across the galaxy.
During this sweeping colonization, the Slann began experimentation with creating
new alien races and modifying the genetic code of others. The first life forms
were simple, mindless creatures that served small purposes. For example, on a
world in which there were no native life forms to help carry the seeds of the
planet's flora across the land, the Slann would create a bird-like species that
performed this function. They also engineered many types of plant, including
food-bearing plants and trees whose wood could become as hard as duracrete.
It was also at this time that the Slann learned about the Warp. The warp was new
to them, an alternate dimension shaped by their thoughts. They recognized its
potential for moving quickly between the stars, but they also saw the danger it
could present. The Slann created a network of warp gates that would allow for
safe passage through the warp from world to world. This greatly improved the
speed with which they expanded their empire.
With the discovery of the warp, the Slann also learned of its connection with
their psychic powers. They began to take into these powers more and more, and
very soon almost every Slann was capable of using some form of psychic powers.
The more powerful Slann became known as the Mage Lords. They could bend and
reshape the physical universe with their very thoughts.
The Necrontyr
The Slann grew in power and knowledge as their empire grew. They began to
harness the powers of the warp much more effectively. They also learned to
create sentient species that could grow and learn and adapt to new situations
and environments. The earliest of these sentient species were the Krork, who
were created to serve the Slann and do most of their manual labor. With the
Krork doing their physical work, many of the Slann's bodies degenerated into
skinny forms with little in the way of physical power. This did not concern
them, they had no need for physical might.
It was with some surprise that the Slann discovered another powerful empire
growing amidst the stars. The Necrontyr empire came head to head with the Slann
in a most tragic manner. A delegation of Slann Mage Lords was traveling to the
world Talz when they were attacked viciously by a fleet of Necrontyr warships
led by a dark being wrapped in a cloak that seemed to be made of a dark light.
Through the use of vastly superior technology and the powers of the dark
creature leading them, the Necrontyr destroyed the Slann delegation's ships with
no resistance.
The Slann, mortified to learn of this incident, demanded an explanation from the
Necrontyr. The response of this dark and warlike race was to send more fleets
driving into Slann space, smashing through colony after colony and seeding the
world with Necrontyr settlements.
The Slann, unprepared to fight this emerging threat, decided to try to counter
it by re-engineering the genetic structure of the Krork so that they would
become a race of warriors. They were given intuitive knowledge of building
weapons and other instruments of war, as well as all of the other knowledge they
would need to create a civilization of their own. Before they were ready to do
so, circumstances forced the Slann to press the Krork into action against the
Necrontyr.
At first, the fight went well. But the Krork were primitive, and fought to a
standstill against the Necrontyr. To aid the Krork, the Slann created a race of
simians that could create weapons and technological equipment from anything.
This race, known as the Jokaero, did not turn out so well as warriors, as their
curiosity made them rather chaotic. Over time they would evolve into more
intelligent creatures, and diminish in size, but they were never a serious aid
to the Slann.
So it was that the Slann created a third race, the Elder, to fight the Necrontyr
with both technology and psychic powers. This new race showed potential, and did
well against the Necrontyr when fighting alongside the Krork. The double threat
of the primitive brutes and the elegant technological warriors with awesome
powers of the warp was the key to winning the war against the Necrontyr.
Being beaten back, the Necrontyr turned to the C'tan gods for help.
The Slann then created another race, one that could act as 'filler' in their
armies. These creatures were the Humans. They could adapt to situations well,
and their intuition could serve them well in a battle. The Humans were not great
warriors, and they were not technologically superior, and they had trouble doing
much of anything without the guidance of the Slann. But their minds were linked
into the heart of the Slann's power, the warp. This gave them access to great
powers of the mind, powers that could be used to destroy the Necrontyr.
But unlike the Eldar, the chaotic thoughts of the Humans, their dark minds
overflowing with hatred, jealousy, madness, fear, and depression, flooded the
warp with untamed psychic power. While they fought against the Necrontyr, their
minds played havoc with the warp.
The Humans and the Fall of the Warp
In the space of one horrible century, the influx of random thoughts and chaotic
feelings into the warp began to manifest as entities born of the power of the
warp. In a tragic week that would forever leave the Slann empire less than
whole, three separate and extremely powerful warp entities were born that
overshadowed all of the other warp entities. These powers embodied the Humans'
thoughts on war, scheming, and fear. They were known as Khorne, Tzeentch, and
Nurgle. Their terrible birthing pains echoed through the warp, and as they did
many Slann minds were destroyed. Starships caught in the warp were destroyed by
daemons created by these new entities, and many of the warp portals collapsed,
destroying many a world and unleashing chaotic powers upon many other worlds.
These powers and the many other entities within the warp came to be known as
Chaos to the Slann.
The powers of the warp also gave rise to many smaller warp-forms, daemons. The
daemons would attack the souls of any creature they could find, trying to claw
their way into the physical realm. This not only included the Slann, Elder, and
Krork, who could fight back, but also the unshielded Humans and Necrontyr.
The Slann Fight Back
The Slann did not give up so easily, even though their empire was now in
shambles. They conjured up a plan to create an entity that would confront and
hopefully destroy the Chaos entities. Many Mage Lords put together their psychic
might and created a singly powerful being in the warp filled with contempt for
all things that the Chaos beings embodied. This being was known as Malal.
Malal created many problems for the other Chaos entities, and prevented them
from becoming much of an irritation to the Slann. Meanwhile, new entities were
being born of the thoughts of the Elder and Krork, who would later come into the
pantheon of beings fighting for supremacy over the warp.
But the daemons in the warp began tearing at the C'tan gods, and the Necrontyr
themselves. Millions of Necrontyr were possessed by daemons, who came to be
known as the Enslavers to them. The C'tan gods were frustrated at this setback,
and began to fight amongst themselves, blaming each other for the failures of
their war against the Slann. Many C'tan gods were slaughtered, and the
Necrontyr, in anger, protested and attacked the Slann directly. They began to
win many battles while the gods they worshipped fought amongst themselves.
The Plague
The Slann noticed the damage being wrought upon their empire, and that their
newborn races would not be enough to save them. They felt that desperate times
were coming, and called for equally desperate measures.
In one last effort to stave off the Necrontyr assault, the Slann unleashed a
deadly plague upon the galaxy. They quickly moved to the northern pole of the
galaxy, retreating there to remain in seclusion while the plague worked its way
around the rest of the galaxy.
The plague worked terribly well. Billions of Necrontyr died, and with them so
too did billions of Humans, Elder, and Krork. No one had a cure for this disease
that was now wiping out most of the life in the galaxy. The Necrontyr turned to
their gods for aid, and pleaded to the four that remained for safety from this
terrible plague. The C'tan gods agreed to give them eternal life in return for
eternal servitude. The Necrontyr agreed, and eventually shed their flesh bodies
for metal ones.
Knowing that the galaxy would be ravaged by the plague unleashed by the Slann,
and realizing their power would wane over time, the Necrontyr and C'tan gods
build great chambers and vessels to house their bodies and spirits until such
time that they could return. The great pyramids they built would hold them until
they could once again go forth and rebuild their former glory.
The Passage of Time
Over the sixty million years that the Necrontyr stayed in stasis, the Slann
remained in the northern pole and continued their work. They created a new race
of Saurians to help protect them, and also learned how to take up arms and fight
themselves, as well as how to use the warp on the field of battle.
They watched with sadness as the remnants of the constructed races went through
their own evolutions, unaided by either of the races that birthed them. The
Krork slowly died from the Plague over millions of years, and the descendant
races they created to take their place degenerated into savages that enjoyed war
and all manner of conflict. The Elder, over time, evolved into a higher state
and ruled the stars for a long while, but destroyed themselves with their own
emotions, giving birth to yet another warp entity with their decadence.
Meanwhile, the Humans fell into yet more savagery and became little more than
insentient primates, but again re-evolved into a state where they could once
again make an attempt for control of the stars. They did so, but the chaos of
their minds always forced them to lose their glory. Their fate was always
doomed, cursed by the uncertainty of their minds and their lack of willpower. It
was this lack of willpower that allowed the Necrontyr to take command of the
Human Imperium from within.
The Slann watched as one of the eldest of the gods, Dragon, awoke and began to
trick the Human scientists into awakening the other C'tan gods and the
Necrontyr. They worshipped Dragon as their own god and did his bidding. Across
the galaxy, Necrontyr began waking from their stasis. The Slann sent word of
these events to the Elder, who began destroying sleeping Necrontyr across the
universe. But it was not enough.
The Necrontyr woke up once more.
The Re-emerging Threat
The Slann have given up trying to avoid direct confrontation with the Necrontyr.
They now understand that only by going to war against these monsters can they
save the galaxy from eminent enslavement, or destruction at the hands of the
terrible C'tan gods. So the Slann make plans, and work toward the ultimate goal
of ending the Necrontyr threat.
The descendants of the Krork, the Orks, are unstable, and the Humans now work
for the foul Necrontyr. The only hope left to the Slann is in the Eldar and the
newly emerged Tau and Kroot races, who have been aided in their evolutionary
paths by the Slann. But the Necrontyr remember the Elder, and will work to fight
them. They also suspect the hand of the Slann in their surprisingly quick
evolution of the Tau and Kroot, and they have begun manipulating events so that
the Imperial army has even more run-ins with the Tau, hoping that the Imperium
will bring its military might to bear against the Tau and crush that threat
without the Necrontyr being directly involved.
One of the major problems for the Necrontyr still lies in the warp. Chaos still
exists, and the Enslavers are ready to leap upon the Necrontyr and their
followers. In preparation, the Necrontyr began to engineer mutants of their own
kind and of the Humans they controlled, creatures known to the other Humans as
Pariahs. These soulless creatures are perfect for hunting down the Enslavers, as
well as the wielders of the warp powers within the Slann and their attendant
races. But a setback has occurred lately, with the Alaitoc craftworld of Eldar
taking the world of the Culexus Assassin temple and hiding it from the
Necrontyr.
The stage has been set once again for the two most ancient races to go head to
head over the future of the galaxy. But this time, the Slann plan on being
prepared.