I just finished the Core-Rulebook section about the Expanse.

Is this just me, or are thera a lot of hints which might suggest a possible Necron-presence in the Expanse? A lot of the descriptions about planets and systems do feature obelisks, monolithic symetrical ruins, obsidian tombs, biers, drained xeno bodies in ancient machinized ruins with some sort of monofilament-tentacles still attached (mind transfer devices?) and so on...

Some (or even all) of the fabled "Halo Devices" could very well be of Necron Origin, especially those who are shaped like a scarabaei...

And then thers is this incredible huge sun "Furibundus": according to the Necron background, the C´tan were feeding of the energy of suns before they were cast into metal bodies... I would guess that Furibundus would make a nice banquet for a C´tan.

It could be Necrons, but there are also mentions of the Yu’vath - who are responsible for a lot of Halo Devices. We know that that particular race also had a fondness for warp tech and other, weirder, stuff. So the Necrons can easily be involved or even had a good scuffle with the Yuvvies, but to lump all those hints up to just our cold-hearted terminator friends is perhaps a bit too easy. The Expanse is loaded with 'weird stuff'...

I doubt that necrons would be involved in some warp technology as, fluff wise, they are very weak against warp based effect (especially their master the C'Tan). They even have created pariah to hunt down psykers. But, as they erased almost all lifeforms from the galaxy a long time ago, they are probably present everywhere in the galaxy (so in the expanse to).

Maggoth said:

If you want Necrons, have Necrons. We can have Orks as pc, how can we say no to Necrons? Or Tyranids? Their could even be a squat empire!

But I do not think that all of those "hints" really have to point to Necrons

obelisks, monolithic symetrical ruins have been a main stable of SciFi since I can remember. Pick a book from a non-40k-scifi shelf you gonna find it right there.

Tombs where used in the early days, where all was in the mix with Fantasy. Check out 30s SciFi like the original FlashGordon or the 50s Series of DoctorWho. And remember, DoctorWho-Series was seldomly ground-breaking but always scavenging other ideas when it came to the stuffage for their alien worlds (@ll DW-Fans: "do not bash me, I am of your own blood!")

Drained Bodies; linked to machines is a concept I am aware of in movies since the 80s. Either "stand alone" ("LifeForce", anyone?) or while using the alien civilizations as a "mirror" to bring along a message like "we become slaves to our own machines and they drain us off our lives"

What I want to point out is that all of this has other SciFi-Context as well and I bet that those writers of FFG working on the RT are SciFi-Fans and take inspirations from other sources then Dan Abnetts Novells as well. It does not have to be Necron.

...but the Halo Devices are something where I am sure as hell that they are not Necron. The one described in DH turns you into an insect-thing. Alive, hungry, emotional. Does not look like anything the C´Tan created (Necron-Types). "Alive and hungry" is something they reserved for themselve will they fed on any other being and only allowed them to exist in the reduced form of metallic slaves. If the fact that it is "scarab like" makes it Necron like, then Nids are likely Necrons as well. The other one described in the RT-Freebee was clearly linked to the Yu-Vath. As long you one does not thing that the Yu-Vath are the Necron/C´Tan my suggestion on this is that:

a) "Halo Devices" is really just a catch-all-term for strange devices found in a certain forbidden place and the Imperium is just so stupid about xenos that it throws it all into one pod (like the Orks do with "Sluggas" and "Shootas" and "Choppas" and...
b) The Designers are not sure themselves and have yet to decide
c) The true form of the YuVath is similiar to giant battle-bugs, some devices allow them to be re-created similiar to the ways of this alien species in "Stargate" (?) while other are just nifty little tools and traps of them.

He said Squats! Stone him! stone Him!

Ahem

On the other stuff. Necrons yay! But Yu'Vath more likely. On the other hand, if your players are already 40k geeks, throwing in some obvious necron thing while they are exploring would be a great way to terrify them.

Gribble_the_Munchkin said:

I agree, I think Necrons are really great for terryfing purposes ("psychological gamefare"). Otherwise they are kind of a game killer for RT, I believe, because they just kill everything and you really can´t reason (least trade) with them. Actually they are worse than Daleks and Cybermen put together....

A small plot idea one might have is, that the explorers are approached by a shady (perhaps even xenos) weapons merchant, who offers to sell them one (ore even a few dozen) "deactivated war robots from the dark age". The robot(s) are stored in a secret cache in a nearby asteroid field (or moon, derelict spacestation or whatever) so that the explorers don´t have a chance to examine them before purchase. Otherwise the price for the robots would be a real bargain and the trader has honest intentions. He just wants to get rid of them because he could not figure out how to activate them...

I´m curios how my players would react when they open the first crate an find a "sleeping" Necron Warrior inside... do they really dumb it out of an airlock or won´t they try to make a profit out of it?

What if the inquisition, or the Adeptus Mechanicus or other watchfull factions hear of this.... aah the possibilities....!

One concept which may help build up the tension was posted over on another forum - a xenoarchaeon (archeologist to anyone from 010.M3) has found a number of xenotech artefacts - a silver pillar and a number of silver spheres. It's called Silver Dawn and I can imagine explorers suffering serious bowel motions when they find the first missing 'sphere' unfolded

from france

i shield the one who said squat he is a friend after all .

long live for the squat.

after all if their is a sector of space to place your nostalgia it is in the expanse. you can shape it the way you want like the demiurg or a lost colony of the once squat empire. and so on...

your campaing your necrons although i always felt that necrons lacked... um.... perosnality? seriously though i join the stoning of the squarts and his friends and just for good measure i add a lascannon lol squats died a horible death let them stay dead ....... now space dwarfs thats a different story lol

or if failing necrons you could use them chaos androids....

essentially any xenos you can comprehend could be reponsible its a wide expanse out there

Forget the Squats I want Minotaur Imperial Guardsmen back!

I think the Necrons fit nicely into the Expanse and some worlds like Rain seem perfect for them. While they are not the type of xeno an RT could trade with their presence could cause a lot of upheaval that could throw all manner of alien races into an ad-hoc alliance with the Imperium. After all it was the enslavers that saved all life last time the Ctan went rogue on all life. The enslavers!

'We must save the universe so we can enslave it tomorrow.'

I reckon that using the Halo devices as Ctan/Necrontyr gear is very doable thematically. Perhaps the Ctan seek new immortal servants to replace the necrons that failed them before. Perhaps they are their secret weapon for the next battle against the warp.

Imagine the RT trying to cobble together this ragtag band of horrible xenos with a pile of Inquisitors breathing down his neck. Could be awesome, frustrating and terrifying at the same time.