Historical data point
The Anapnut dynasty is a rare thing amongst the many dynasties
of the Necrons. They are an almost entirely ship based dynasty, the nobles
choosing to rule from massive world engines more akin to metal moons than
spaceships. Each of these ships houses
hundreds of thousands of Necrons and is commanded by an Overlord. Each world engine is supported by a seemingly
countless fleet of smaller craft ranging from smaller Dirge escorts to huge
Tombships. All of the Overlords answer
to the Anapnut Phaeron Keksuhad Sekhrey. Keksuhad leads his forces from his
supreme world engine known as Sekhmit.
The Anapnut dynasty has been a heavily shipped base society
well before the biotransference that saw them transformed into the soulless
metal beings they are today.
When the Necrontyr first took to the stars it was what would become the Anapnut dynasty that designed the torch-ships to carry them there, combining their knowledge of shipbuilding with that of stasis technology to allow vast distances to be travelled whilst the occupants slumbered.
When Necrontyr colonists started to occupy other worlds the shipwrights and crew never felt comfortable on the surface and so remained aboard their vessels, providing much needed trade and communication with other colonies. Many of these vessels came together forming a space faring society and thus the Anapnut dynasty was founded.
When the Necrontyr first took to the stars it was what would become the Anapnut dynasty that designed the torch-ships to carry them there, combining their knowledge of shipbuilding with that of stasis technology to allow vast distances to be travelled whilst the occupants slumbered.
When Necrontyr colonists started to occupy other worlds the shipwrights and crew never felt comfortable on the surface and so remained aboard their vessels, providing much needed trade and communication with other colonies. Many of these vessels came together forming a space faring society and thus the Anapnut dynasty was founded.
During the first war of secession, rather than fighting for
control of planets and systems the Anapnut dynasty remained in space controlling
their massive fleets. They raided regions for supplies when needed but due to
not getting involved in any major conflict made it through relatively
unscathed.
When the War
in Heaven began the Anapnut dynasty like most dynasties answered the call from
the Triarch and joined the fight against the Old Ones. Their skills as navigators
and their massive fleets proving invaluable in the conflict.
By the time
the Necrontyr were pushed back and the second iteration of the wars of secession
came about the Anapnut dynasty was one of few remaining dynasties with any sort
of noteworthy fleet. Making them key potential allies to other dynasties, a
fact they didn’t fail to capitalise on. Offering assistance to those who offered
them the most in return. A situation
that only helped exacerbate the massive fracturing of the Necrontyr dynasties.
Being such
an old dynasty, Anapnut was one of the
first to be approached by the C’tan. What would later become apparent was that
the C’tan looked to the Anapnut dynasty, along with the other more powerful
dynasties, because they saw the greatest potential gain. A fact that went
completely un-noted until it was already much too late….
The Anapnut
leaders, and for the most part their people, saw the C’tan as the embodiment of
their gods. This coupled with the hatred towards the Old Ones and the longing
to destroy them saw that few resisted the offering of immortality, even after seeing
the form in which it would take. Thus the major portion of the Anapnut peoples
were willingly transferred to their metal shells, most not having enough of their
mind left to ever regret that terrible decision once the transfer was complete.
After the biotransference the Nobles of Anapnut
came to
realise what they had gotten themselves in to. With their minds mostly
intact
the realisation hit them that they were to live out eternity in a metal
shell, stripped
of what made them truly alive, their souls. The souls that were now
being consumed by the C'tan, who had betrayed their trust in such a way
that the wound would never heal.
Yet they, like the silent King they unquestionably followed, knew that they
could not possibly hope to defeat the C’tan, the false gods, when they were at
the height of their power. And certainly not before the Old Ones were
destroyed.
When the time came and the Silent King at last led the
Nercrons in revolt the Anapnut ships proved invaluable yet again.
Allowing the huge energy weapons used to shatter the
C’tan to be moved and wielding with an ease other dynasties could not hope to
match. The conflict saw much of the Anapnut forces destroyed leaving them with
only a fragment of their former power.
By the time the Silent King ordered the great slumber all
that remained of the Anapnut forces were 12 out of the original 100 World
engine vessels and their supporting
fleets, one of which was Sekhmit, Phaeron Keksuhad Sekhrey’s great World
engine .
Each of these 12 ships along with their many support
craft came together in open space far away from any stellar body or the
projected path any would take over the next 60 million years.
The fleet then shut themselves down; sleeping until the
time of awakening comes and the Necrons would once again rise to power…….