Hi all.

I wondered whether it would be fitting to consider the Slaugth as a race that are or were devoted to the C'tan. Similar to Krork and Eldar being servant races of the Old Ones. The Necrons do not make a good antagonist race for my campaign as they are not subtle and sentient enough. Whether the Slaugth are still fully devoted to the C'tan, knowingly or not, does not matter for me at the moment. Even though this is also an interesting point. The reason I see the Slaugth as fitting is due to their Psychic Null ability, their knowledge of elemental physics, their ability to traverse interstellar distances withought the use of the warp, their 'harvest-the-living' (or dead for that matter...) attitude and their Necron-similar weapons.

What do you think?

The Slaught is generally something that I stay away from as they seem to be relevant to the the DH story arc, but its not an impossibility the galaxy is a big place.

I wouldn't worry about any story arch the Slogth might be involved with inside the DH books my self. Such things seem to be dealt with in a very open manner offering more a bag of options then definitive answers as to what is what... if Disciples is any indication. Beyond that, if something does come out down the road revealing the Slougth to be the pupate life stage of an Eldar or some such and such answers for who and what the Slought really are doesn't jive with you, you can simply ignore it.

I like the idea of the Slought as being tied up with the C'tan. It makes a lot of sense.

For a while I've simply been wondering if the idea of physical death or a fixation on the remains of physical death was somehow anti warp due to the fixation with the physical aspect of death as opposed to the emotional and spiritual side. After all, the Necrons have a major death thing going on and are anti-warp. The Slought have the whole graveyard worm eater of the dead thing going on and don't interact so well with the warp. I never went the next step and actually associated the Slought with the C'tan though. It makes a lot more sense then the half thoughts I was having on the matter ;-)

Luthor Harkon said:

I think that you could be wrong about that; in the Xenology book the Necron Lord is very subtle (manipulating the Inquisition both as a tool and a means to an end; and successfully masquerading as an inquisitor for over a century) and quite "chatty" as well. He explains that the Lords are those who came through the 'necronising' process with their mental faculties intact, well mostly anyway; and this makes them perfect for undercover work as well as leading troops on the battlefield.

Not that I don't agree with your idea for the Slaught - I think its great; I just see Necrons as a bit sneakier that most people give them credit for

DW

Traveller61 said:

Indeed. I'd recommend the Xenology book for the story value alone. it's an interesting twist on the Necrons and how they think.

I just read Xenology and that is really helpful and a good inspiration regarding more RP-suitable Necrons. Thanks again.

Graver said:

I had similar thoughts actually. The whole C'tan (and maybe Slaugth) obsession with death and consuming of other lifeforms must somehow be disconnected from the Tyranid life-form-consumation-to-build-new-biomatter-thing and the Chaos killing-and-sacrificing-for-the-emotional-feedback-and-reality-sundering-effect.

Well at least in Warhammer Fantasy the spirit-self of mortals resides within the warp, but part of the soul also is bound to the mortal body itself while alife. So when ta mortal creature dies, its soul merges with its counterpart in the warp and most float towards certain Warp Powers and merge with it (and empower it thereby). Sometimes these souls do not travel to the warp instantly but reside trapped within the physical realm becoming Ghosts, Spectres or any other spirit creature according to circumstances of the death. Other souls become forever bound to the mortal realm or their former bodies due to certain necromantic rituals like Mummies, Wights, Liches, Vampires and Wraiths.

This is the way it was described in the old RoC books and the Liber Necris. At least the former was also valid for 40K as far as I know.

Maybe it is this 'soul' (not the warp bound 'spirit-self') the Necrons/C'tan harvest, thereby depriving the Warp Powers (ie. Chaos Gods) of (at least part of) the souls they would merge with/consume otherwise under 'normal' circumstances (ie. 'natural' death).

Just rambling...