C'tan
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In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the C'tan (also called "Star Gods"; in fact, C'tan is said to translate as "Star God". The word can be pronounced in various ways - "Ka-tan", "say-tan", "si-tan" or "see-tan") are incredibly powerful, god-like entities which feed on the energy provided by stars and the 'life force' energy of living creatures (souls). They were discovered by the Necrontyr, who subsequently forged bodies for the C'tan out of their unique "living metal", Necrodermis. The C'tan would later play a major role in the epic War in Heaven, and would cause the transformation of the Necrontyr into the race now known as the Necrons.
Within the game the C'tan are effectively "characters" in the Necron Army list.
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[edit] In-Universe Accuracy of this Information
All published information on the C'tan is somewhat conjectural in its nature. The book Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Necrons (Chambers et al, 2002) contains the following quotation on the issue:
- "Across the impossible gulfs of time since the Necrontyr race was transformed, all of their fantastic knowledge has become dust. [...] These carry but a whisper of those ancient times and are tainted with an alien morbidity which makes them nigh-incomprehensible. It is said that the legends of the Eldar contain many scraps of true tales about individual C'tan [...] but even they acknowledge that their own gods were born of a time of war in heaven that had been raging between the Ur-folk [Contradictions about the Eldar-Old One relationship abound] and the Yngir since the birth of creation. Separating truth and myth about the C'tan is impossible, though given their nature perhaps it is a mistake to even try."
Much of the information is written to suggest that it is mythology, rather than history, and no 'modern' races in the Warhammer 40,000 universe except the Necrons and the C'tan themselves have reliable information, and they are not trustworthy sources of information - the C'tan known as the Deceiver is, as his name suggests, known for his tendency to spread disinformation. Other than the Deceiver, the only Necron to speak in any source, which was the book Xenology (Spurrier, 2006), may be reliable, but he said little of relevance. The information on this page regarding the history of the C'tan should be considered a reflection of the prevailing beliefs about the C'tan in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, rather than accurate biographical information.
[edit] The History of the C'tan
[edit] Genesis
The C'tan were semi sentient formless beings who fed on energy. At first, they only drank the tasteless, but sustaining, energy from stars. It is possible that this process altered the radiation output of the stars they fed on. The Nightbringer, the first C'tan discovered by the Necrontyr - and one who chose to style itself as the embodiment of death - came from the pitiless and cruel sun of the Necrontyr homeworld, perhaps indicating that it had damaged this star in some way, thus explaining the Necrontyr's poor adaptation to the radioactive emissions of their star.
When the Nightbringer was first summoned to a material body made of "steel like skin" called Necrodermis, it became aware of the material universe around it, and it began slaughtering the Necrontyr and feeding on the essence of their minds. They pledged servitude to the creature, offering the Nightbringer the opportunity to feed on other races from different planets.
The Deceiver was originally the least powerful but most intelligent and "understandable" of the C'tan. It was capable of communing with its followers in ways they understood, and was less intimidating and awesome in its manner. For this reason, it gained the most followers, servants, and popularity among the Necrontyr, to the point where it had to send them to work for its kin for fear of arousing envy due to this popularity. It is believed by the Eldar to be the architect of the transformation of the Necrontyr from organic creatures to the nigh-imperishable Necrons. These Necrons became essentially slaves to the C'tan. It is unclear whether the Necrontyr were aware of this, given the comments of the Necron in Xenology, who seems to admire his brethren for being fully free of emotion ("they are pure, free"), unlike himself; it is therefore likely that they did know.
[edit] The War in Heaven
The C'tan used the hatred of the Necrontyr towards the Old Ones and allowed themselves to be used as weapons in the War in Heaven, unleashing their raw power to destroy entire star systems and wipe out opposing species. Now with an army of immortal soldiers, and many new technologies, including a faster-than-light drive of incredible ability, and 'godlike weapons' added to their already vast powers, the C'tan began to make war on their enemies, quickly overrunning the Old Ones and taking the mastery of the galaxy for themselves for millions of years. The Old Ones were pushed to the fringes of the galaxy and apparently allowed to remain there - the Codex: Necrons describes their last outposts as besieged, but also describes the Old Ones as having 'utter supremacy' in the alternate universe the warp.
During this time of C'tan dominance, the Deceiver led the C'tan into consuming other C'tan- according to Eldrad Ulthran, the C'tan numbered in the thousands at the beginning of their involvement in the War in Heaven. Later, the Eldar god known as The Laughing God would deceive the Outsider into consuming C'tan also, which would drive him insane. It is believed that these are two separate events, although it is possible that it was the Deceiver, posing as the Eldar Laughing God, who tricked the Outsider.
Desperate to rectify the situation, the Old Ones created new servant races to use as warriors and weapons against the C'tan; however, this was to prove their undoing. These new generations of warrior-races, including the Eldar, had stronger connections to the Warp, and because of this, as they grew in numbers, they would stir the currents of the Warp into forming creatures called daemons, which were inimical to the order the Old Ones sought. The warrior races were specifically created to be attuned to the warp and/or possess psychic powers because the C'tan had a weakness: they had no influence over the warp.
The Eldar, being one of the oldest races still in existence, record much of their role in this war; they believe that their smith-god, Vaul, created the Blackstone Fortresses as weapons to injure or destroy a C'tan, and brought them to battle against what they perceived as the most powerful of the C'tan, the Void Dragon. They were evidently unsuccessful, as the Dragon endured, though Eldar myth in Xenology describes the Dragon as being 'becalmed' by this or some other plan of Vaul's (believed by some radical Inquisitors to be Mars, the largest forge-world in the Imperium). These Blackstone Fortresses must have been a considerable threat to the C'tan, as upon reawakening, the Deceiver went to great lengths to destroy them, having so far destroyed between four and five (the destruction of the fifth has not been confirmed, but in the year 40,999, it disappeared, under attack by a flotilla of Necron ships) of the six fortresses, and having arranged for two to be put beyond the reach of the Eldar by causing them to fall into the hands of Abaddon the Despoiler.
Khaine, the Eldar god of war, also fought the C'tan; in Eldar myth he is recorded as doing battle with many of his mightiest champions against the Nightbringer. Khaine was able to permanently destroy one of the Nightbringer's Necrodermis bodies. However, as Khaine fought the Nightbringer he was unable to harm it, due to the fact it could phase out of the Material World. Khaine found an opening however, after recalling the advice that Cegorach (The Laughing God) gave to him. When the Nightbringer warped into the Material World to strike him, Khaine thrust his spear into the C'tan's body, shattering it into tiny pieces. The fragments of the Nightbringer, however, ripped into Khaine, melting in his fiery blood, tainting his physical aspect forever more (as portrayed by the Dark Reapers Aspect Warriors). Before leaving to reform, the Nightbringer instilled a fear of death into all sentient beings, save for the Orks. This inadvertently fuelled the growth of the nascent Chaos gods, as they feed upon survivalist emotions, or responses to the knowledge of death.
The Orks - the Deceiver labels them Krorks - along with other, minor races, date back to this time. But they do not record their history beyond a certain degree, living very much in the present. Somehow they remain free of the taint of the Nightbringer, meaning they have no fear of death, unlike other races who have had contact with it.
It should be noted, though, that the War In Heaven is not a name used solely for this conflict, as it has in fact been labeled upon many ancient wars. Another prominent use for this name was a war between the Eldar and their gods.
[edit] The Enslaver Plague
The emotions and strong warp-links of the young races created to fight the C'tan caused an unexpected problem for the Old Ones. They created conditions that made the warp amenable to unforeseen creatures, such as the aforementioned daemons. However, the creatures that were the most significant at this time were the 'Enslavers' also known as the Krell (a Forbidden Planet reference), a race which was undone by their psionic creations in a similar manner to the way the Old Ones were undone by the Enslavers.
The Enslavers and the other creatures of the warp created by the young races destroyed the Old Ones civilization, and there were few survivors, although it is possible that some Old Ones survived (the continuing activities of one such an Old One are strongly implied in Xenology, but he was effectively destroyed by the chaos god Slaanesh when this deity was born).
The Enslavers, according to the Deceiver, were not capable of harming the C'tan directly. However, they were 'killing everything else'. If the Enslavers destroyed all life, the C'tan would no longer have a source of food, beyond the unsatisfying energy of the stars. The C'tan devised a plan to construct a Great Ward, which would cut off the warp from realspace, and render their enemies helpless. They did not complete it, however, as all their slaves and 'cattle' were consumed by the overly numerous Enslavers. They left the 'great work' uncompleted, and went into stasis until such time that life had reflourished and filled the universe, so they could complete the Ward and raise a new generation of slaves. The Deceiver has indicated that he finds the attitudes of humanity in the 41st millennium promising, and that he believes they will make excellent subjects. Enslavers still exist in the 41st millennium, but in drastically reduced numbers, and are no longer considered a threat by the C'tan.
[edit] The 41st Millennium
The C'tan waited for aeons, but to date, only two are known to be awake in the 41st millennium. They have been awoken by various explorers and archaeologists, and have found a galaxy rich in life and bloodshed. The two C'tan which have been awoken are the Deceiver and the Nightbringer. The Nightbringer was awoken by a conspiracy of ruthless individuals who were ignorant of his true nature, some believing him to be willing to grant them immortality, and others who believed him to be a simple weapon.
It is likely that the Deceiver was awoken by Explorator Magos Dural Lavank in the thirty fifth millennium, as this was the first recorded landing on Naogeddon, where the Deceiver appeared to sleep. The Dragon and the Outsider still sleep, and where they lie is unknown. Imperial archaeologists and translators working on a tablet recovered from the excavation of an Eldar exodite world have hinted that the Dragon is hibernating on a 'Vaul Moon,' a term the translator believed implied a world similar to an Imperial forge world, or even Holy Mars itself. It is also hinted that the Adeptus Mechanicus' deity, the Machine God, is one and the same as the Void Dragon. It is possible that the Outsider is entombed on a dead world in free flight in the outer spiral of the galaxy; the world's sun having exploded and cast the planet adrift. Its course has been altered by passing near to a gravity well, now on a curving course back towards the galactic center. Both the Eldar and the Imperium have encountered this world. The Eldar believed this planet to be the shrine-world of the Culexus assassins, due to its total psychic blankness. Farseeing revealed that the destruction of this world would provoke a backlash obliterating the Eldar Craftworld Alaitoc. The investigation was abandoned. The Imperium detected the planet on long-distance scans, notably because the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan was giving the world a very wide berth, while consuming nearby systems but leaving certain planets unmolested. The avoided worlds were all noted as being documented 'dead worlds'. It is possible these planets were Necron Tomb Worlds. Although this may be because of the lack of harvestable biomass on these planets means that the hive mind is not interested in them. It has also been noted an extremely large object, possibly a Dyson Sphere, is located in the same region. The object was estimated to be some 32 million times larger than Earth. Any of these locations could house the Outsider, but it is quite certain it is residing in this region.
The C'tan have once again started their Great Work - to permanently seal off the Warp that they abhor. This would have disastrous consequences for races with psychic abilities (including all the races the Old Ones originally created to combat the Necrontyr), destroying their souls completely. It would also leave the C'tan and their Necron slaves as the sole power in the galaxy with FTL capability, since every other race uses the Warp for interstellar travel, while Necrons utilize their incredibly advanced Inertialess Drive technology.
Also, the C'tan known as the Deceiver often alters his Necrodermis shape in order to masquerade as Imperial officials; two of his aliases have been noted in the background material. Explorator Magos Prime Reston Egal was sent to the dead world Naogeddon to examine the alien structures there, and to investigate the fate of the previous expeditions to the planet. In the short story Deus Ex Mechanicus, it is revealed that the Deceiver took the shape of this man. After the expedition, Reston Egal is also noted together with the Mars Incident, where he is said to demand that the Noctis Labyrinthus (the mining complex where one of the Necron ships managed to land before being destroyed) be destroyed and sealed with ferrocrete. The Deceiver also took the shape of a "Governor Takis" for a period of time, before an assassination attempt from the Callidus Temple. Unfortunately for the Imperium, the human assassin was no match for the awesome powers of the C'tan.
[edit] Physiology and Relations
[edit] C'tan and the Warp
The C'tan are entities purely of the material universe, and are therefore unable to interact with the Warp as psykers do. Unlike most sentient entities of the physical realm, they do not have reflections in the Warp. This is also their one major weakness; while the C'tan are the masters of the material universe, able to bend the physical reality to their will, they have no direct powers over the Warp and possibly can be destroyed by Warp-based attacks.
Because of this, C'tan despise psykers and have thus set up a series of 'pylons' on Cadia, which limit the growth of the Eye of Terror. They have similar devices in other locations. These appear to be part of their plan, the Great Ward, to separate Materium from Immaterium, eradicating all psychic influence in the galaxy and thus giving the C'tan nothing to fear from psykers.
[edit] C'tan and other races
The enigmatic Cypher until recently wielded a C'tan phase knife. However, he lost the knife when he used it to strike a C'tan's body, whereupon the blade was swallowed up into the living metal of the C'tan, implying that a C'tan phase weapon is made from the Necrodermis that C'tan infuse with their true being. The phase swords employed by the Callidus temple of the Officio Assassinorum act in the same way when striking a C'tan. The Deceiver described one such blade, in metaphor it would seem, as its 'child'. While clearly not a C'tan in of itself, if made from the living metal of a C'tan Necrodermis it would explain the swords' and blades' ability to phase shift through armor and defenses with impunity, as well as the Deceiver's ability to command such a sword to 'flow' back into his Necrodermis (which was at the time in the persona of an Imperial Governor), to the dismay and death of the Assassin using it upon him, completely unaware of his true nature.
If these swords are weapons created for the Necrons by the C'tan using Necron living metal technology, or if pieces of a Necrodermis somehow formed into these weapons when separated from their masters is unclear. Nonetheless, they have no effect upon the C'tan (possibly the only race they do not affect) and will instantly comply with the will of a C'tan.
Some connection may also exist between the C'tan and humans bearing the Pariah Gene which causes them to have no presence in the Warp (also known as "Blanks", referring to the psychic blankness they project in the warp). Blanks have the unusual ability to negate all psychic attacks and warp manifestations in an area around them. Because of this ability they also make any race with a connection to the warp uneasy and distressed around them, This effect is doubled for psykers themselves, often to the point where physical contact with a blank by a psyker can cause the psyker to go into a coma or destroy their sanity completely. These humans are used by the C'tan and the Imperium (as the biological origin for Necron Pariahs and as Culexus Assassins respectively). Whether the gene originated from C'tan manipulation of the human genepool is not indicated either way in the canon though. Some fans also believe that the Eldar Harlequin Solitaires to be a manifestation of this trait, even though the canon states that Solitaires choose to sacrifice their soul to Slaanesh upon Death (through their voluntary neglect to wear a soulstone), not that they are soulless. There is also mention of a "Dark Crop" which the C'tan planted on a backwater world near the edge of the galaxy. It has been speculated that this "Crop" was either the Tau or Humanity, and therefore accounts for the Pariah Gene, but not for humanity's psychic connections. More Likely Tau, as they have a limited connection to the warp.
[edit] Dyson Sphere
The C'tan seem to possess at least one Dyson Sphere, which is interfering with psychic communications for light years around. This interference may have caused at least one Tyranid Hive Fleet to divert around it. It may be part of their Great Ward. Adept Corteswain, a character in the Necron Codex, was taken to this sphere (or one like it) where he was driven mad 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 Corteswain was taken, where it almost killed Cypher. Fans have speculated that the Outsider dwells within the sphere, as he or she is known to be a C'tan who was driven insane, but no firm identity can be easily established for the "One Who Dwells Beyond" which resides within the sphere.
[edit] The Last of the C'tan
The known remaining C'tan are:
[edit] The Void Dragon
It is hinted that he rests on Mars. He was badly injured by a battle with a force that contained a Talisman of Vaul. It is also speculated that at least some members of the Adeptus Mechanicus worship him as the embodiment of the Machine God and are working to revive him. Codex: Necrons mentions a 'darker entity' was deified on Mars during the Dark Age of Technology, suggesting the Necrons and the Void Dragon were openly worshipped; however this information would have been covered up since the Adeptus Mechanicus rejoined the Imperium of Man. The Void Dragon is considered the most technologically advanced of the C'tan, its personal Necron armies having an abundance of more advanced Necron constructs, as well as wargear items such as Lightning Fields. It is possible he may have pioneered such Necron advancements as the Great Work, and subsequently the development of Pariahs. In the early history of the Iron Hands chapter, it is hinted that the Primarch Ferrus Manus did battle with the Dragon or a Necron construct, being referred to as the "Great Silver Wyrm" which had liquid metal skin. This story also gives a hint as to how a backwater Imperial world gained advanced technologies, and explains how the connection between the Mechanicus and the Iron Hands was made.
[edit] The Outsider
The Outsider was tricked by the Laughing God into devouring hundreds of its brother C'tan, from which it was driven mad by the countless C'tan essences still swirling inside of it. It is hinted that The Outsider currently resides in a Dyson Sphere which it was trapped in by the Laughing God.
There are records that tell the tale of one of the Great Dances of the Harlequins. The dance features a Yngir (C'tan) who, it quickly becomes apparent, is in fact the Outsider. During the dance the Outsider and some lesser Yngir feast on the Harlequins until they have "killed" all of them. Then the Outsider kills the Laughing God, only to soon discover that in fact its victim was one of its brother C'tan and the Laughing God is still alive. The Outsider attempts to kill the Laughing God again, and the sequence of events repeats many times, until all the other C'tan have been killed. This perhaps suggests that the reason the Outsider was driven insane by consuming its brothers while other C'tan remained sane after the same act is that the Outsider wasn't aware of what it was doing at the time, and later it was haunted by it for this reason. So it is quite possible that the "fragments of its victims" are, in reality, simply a metaphor for a kind of "conscience" which drives the Outsider "insane" with guilt about the things that it has done. The dance continues with the Laughing God finally appearing and the outsider dwindling to a "dark orb." The Harlequins rejoice, but just before the dance ends, the orb begins to fracture, suggesting that at some point the Outsider will return. [1]
[edit] 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 and the sentient species fear of death on the psyche of the younger races, except the Krork; 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 proved the victor - however, destroying his foe's living metal body ultimately proved a hollow victory; while the Necrodermis was destroyed, the C'tan itself was unharmed and wreaked a terrible vengeance upon the Eldar in return.
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 after its reawakening 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.
[edit] 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. The Deceiver is physically the weakest of the C'tan, but its incredible cunning compensates for this. It is often considered as the equal and opposite of the Chaos God Tzeentch, both favoring highly involved long term planning and cunning, one representing mastery of the warp, one representing mastery of 'normal' space.
The character known as Cypher is known to have battled this Star God while looking for some ancient treasure. He plunged his C'tan Phase Knife into the hide of the creature, but was unable to harm it as the Deceiver absorbed the knife.
[edit] The Seneschal C'tan
Background material published in White Dwarf (Haines, 2003), indicates that there was a C'tan near to waking in 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. The information is suspect though, since the only source pointing to a C'tan is a semi-hysterical astropath, one not well versed in matters of aliens.
[edit] References
- Chambers, Andy; Haines, Pete, McNeill, Graham, and Hoare, Andy (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Necrons, 3rd Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-190-7.
- Deus ex Mechanicus, printed in Inferno! #11, by Andy Chambers
- Goto, Cassern (2005). Dawn of War: Ascension. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-285-0.
- Haines, Pete (November 2003). "Dying Flame – Last Stand of the Firebrands". White Dwarf: UK Edition (287). ISSN 0265-8712.
- Spurrier, Simon (2006). Xenology. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-282-6.
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