Chaos Necrons?

[Necron2.0]

This is something that's been on my mind for awhile. I read a story, in which a Standard Template Construct system that produces Iron Men is found. The planet it was found on, however, has been under the influence of Chaos for some time, and when the STC is switched on, it immediately spits out a decidedly demonic Iron Man.

This got me thinking of the Necrons. Now, as I understand it, the entire Necron race was created before any of the chaos gods had arisen, so they couldn't have been built with explicit defenses against taint - they wouldn't have known about it. Added to this, the fluff regarding the C'tan and the Necrontyr indicates they simply cannot fathom the warp.

So, the question I have is, could a Necron be tainted? What would happen if one of the worlds sucked into the Eye of Terror were a Tomb World? Could you have an army of Chaos Necrons, lead by a Nightbringer style greater deamon emerge?

[Fellend]

If you want to make that army, sure you can!
But fluffwise I think it's impossible, the necron warriors aren't sentient enough to be tainted and the C'tan are I'd assume immune due to immense power.
Human machine spirits (aka) AI can be tainted so maybe it's not impossible, the question is exactly what kind of intelligence does a necron warrior actually have?

[gcsmith]

well yes they could, after all a necron is a soul construct and a soul can be corrupted according to warhammer, tho due to no psychic glimmer, like tau it would be like a wave trying to erode a cliff. Long and boring, tho not impossible, and time can be bent in the eye of terror.

[Grailkeeper]

Machine spirits aren't AI- they're organic growths. AI is banned in the imperium after a robot rebellion in the past. But these Iron men are robots from that era, so I suppose it is posible for AI to be corrupted

[sneakyben]

So what exactly is the machine spirit?

Servitors and other Imperial stuff uses the computing power of a labotomised human brain (?)

So do Land Raiders, Titans etc have extra bits of labotomised human brain knocking around inside them?

[FTE-Charge!!!]

Its a good point- there isn't much out there that explicity states they couldn't be corrupted. We see stories alll the time about how the mere presence of chaos taints objects around it. The warp in constant contact with living metal could have an effect.

Then there is the point of their souls- which they had none, but now do, kinda, sorta.... oh wait, do we have c'tan gods anymore? Hmmm um, well at least the imperium can set there watches to timely Necron invasions. Because thats how one of the most terror- inducing armies in the galaxy works. (Thank you 40k rulebook for singularly crapping on Necron fluff)

Do the conversion, it sounds pretty interesting. I would be interested to see how you mold the Necron bits with other chaotic bits

[Necron2.0]

So what exactly is the machine spirit?

I've always taken "Machine Spirit" to be anything that causes a machine to move. As such, "everything" has a machine spirit, unless it truly is just a hunk of metal.

My understanding of the 40K universe is that humanity has completely collapsed into ignorance and superstition, much like what literary sources claim how Europe was after the collapse of the Roman Empire. There is technology everywhere, but literally nobody understands any of it, not even the Adeptus Mechanicus. Indeed, outside of the AM, even to attempt to understand it would be condemned as heresy. The only reason why any of it works is because all the remaining technology is so highly automated and self-maintaining, from the factories that produce lasguns, to the process for creating Space Marines, right through to the machines that lobotomize and turn "heretics" into servitors. Some within the AM have managed to combine existing elements of technology into "new" things (sort of), but that's not the same as understanding what the base technlogy is. That's why they worship it all as an aspect of a god.

As for "Machine Spirit" as a 40K rule, probably what we're really talking about is an AI, and not another lobotomized half-human construct. Sure, the fluff says man is forbidden from creating machines in the likeness of the human mind, but that belies the reality. Man cannot actually create ANY machines, and wouldn't be able to differentiate a machine intelligence from an organic intelligence even if told what to look for.

And yes, this does mean that Orks are smarter than 'ummies.

As for the forces of Chaos and what they can taint, my understanding is they corrupt the very fabric of reality itself, which doesn't really require the presence of a soul. It is just easier if there is a soul there, because the soul is a defacto pre-existing link to the immaterium.

[Drew da Destroya]

Orkz is always smarter den Hummies. Orkz is best!

I guess a Necron could be Chaos-corrupted, especially their body. Although would their Necrodermis actually accept the "gifts" of Chaos? Or would they repair themselves and remove any tentacles/claws/googly eyes/extra heads/glitter that the Chaos gods had "given"?

It would be pretty funny for a Necron Lord to have his body corrupted, but his "mind" left intact. I imagine the Lord being fairly annoyed at the various tentacles (etc...) sprouting from his body.

[Lerra]

We'll see a huge expansion of Necron fluff with the release of the next codex, so I'd wait to see what it's store before deciding on how fluffy chaos 'crons are. With the current fluff, it's possible but it's a stretch.

That said, I'd love to see a Chaos 'Cron army. There's nothing wrong with "What-If" armies.

[gcsmith]

im so tempted to do a necron Chaos army with destroyers modified for oblits, and the lord having a daemon weapon, and a ctan being enchained by a sorceror :P