Echoes of Eternity: A Warhammer 40k Necron Lord Quest

[Rolling for Equipment and Quality: Roll, 100. CRIT!]
[Mechanicus technology is a piece of cake for Necrons to make. A fake STC fragment is built and handed to Beta for her triumphant return to Edessa.]

The hall was filled with the hunched forms of Crypteks and their apprentices. Data-packets overflew the communication bands, so thick that they appeared as fast-flowing streams of evanescent glyphs. The air was alive with the garbling and chirping of scientific discussion.

Still, all present kept their main channels open to the stream currently projected by two Canoptek Spyders, their optics alight with images, stats and data.

It has been going for a few cycles now and while the "technology", was that the word?, shown was enough to make an Apprentek weep, they all developed a grudging respect for the subject.

She was a stubborn one, that one, and if there was something that could rip a shred of approval from a Cryptek was mule-headedness in the face of learning. Of course, it wouldn't have attracted the least of the present – Uhn'Saekh's behavior and biology weren't attractive enough of a study – if not for the Mistress herself attending.

"And you would have been all the poorer for it," the Mistress had chided them "We may have ruled over the galaxy ages ago, but it's the Uhn'Saekh that do so in this day and age. Luck favored them, but no weak being could dare as much, let alone manage. Look well, for they are our reflections, what we once were during the days of our youth."

Crypteks weren't a lot for poetry and romanticism, but her words managed to reach deep in their engrams, beyond the obsessive compulsions for technical advancement and study and give a little squeeze to the desiccated remnants of their once-hearts. More than one note was taken from observations since then.

Beta – or "the girl", as she came to be known – was reserved a whole hall, most of the machinery replaced with Imperium frippery to make it more homely for the organics. Even the guards were Skitarii, selected in a ratio of three-to-one between the most enthusiastic worshippers and the skeptics. Just in case.

It was a strange sight to see Spyders, their coteries of Scarabs in tow, scuttle between Skitarii pickets. The cybernetic soldiers were even given back their weapons to maximize feelings of ease. Their reactions were mixed, from the overtly glad to the glaringly suspicious, but a tentative peace finally settled over the Tomb. The organics even took to greet the Warrior patrols with something approaching familiarity, never mind the fixed stares they got in return.

As for the girl herself, she passed whole cycles immersed in her studies.

Everything of worth on the ship had been disassembled, studied and then brought in the "Warm Hall-01", with the result that half of the material that once composed the Noosphere's Litany now was there in some shape or form. The ship had remained mostly in one piece even after being shot down, and was currently being rebuilt for use.

It was a mix between a scrapyard, a warehouse and a laboratory, and Beta lived among it, half-buried like a mole in her burrow, gnawing at its knowledge like a mouse to a block of cheese. Like a woman possesses, she worked and studied and learned. She attached snaking cables to her rough neuro-implants, flooding her mind with data from the archives, her limbs and body strapped during the process to avoid for seizures to snap her bones. She curved on tabletops, cascades of spark filling the air as she forged piece after piece of artificial limbs and esoteric automata, many of which ended forming a mountain so cumbersome it had to be dragged out by a swarm of Canoptek. She imbibed and injected revitalizing agents she concocted herself, some of which made her sick and bedridden for days, during which she was dutifully looked after by Spyders while reviewing her notes. And the notes. So many notes.

Necrons weren't familiar with parchment apart from curios leftovers in museums. It wasn't a struggle to reproduce it, but the girl seemed to have an endless need for it. Whole stacks, some as an Assault Pylon, cluttered the place, some getting so large and heavy that the Scarabs had to funnel the organics away while they worked to avoid someone ending up squashed under an avalanche of scribbles and formulae.

Beta didn't care, didn't even seem to notice. She took to learning like a shark to meat, with the same fury a Space Marine would reserve to the destruction of a Daemon World.

"Ah, she reminds me of myself," the Mistress commented once, a wistful tune in her voice, and for once the Crypteks had problems feeling the customary disdain for everything organic.

Truth was, they slowly got used to gathering in the Hall of Viewing, learned to… look forward to? It wasn't the right description. Crypteks may belong to the few Necrons whose complexity of frame allowed them to retain most of their personality, but their lack of proper souls turned them cold, rational, obsessive and idiosyncratic. The most common bursts of emotion for them were spite, disdain, hatred and annoyance for being interrupted.

And yet, watching that little hellion throw a piece of malfunctioning junk to the ground with a shriek awoke something different in their cold, mechanical hearts. Something that could have been longing. Something that could have been sympathy. A quiet, little thing that nobody dared to acknowledge let alone admit. It was a weakness after all.

Xorathis noticed. Mh, something is being born.

Voices among the inner circles were that there wasn't a moment than when during the usual viewing the Mistress looked more pleased.

As for Beta, the old Mechanicus saying about persistence and effort proved the truth of itself.

The girl shed her Skitarii armor and implants, replacing them with more sophisticated, sturdier and at the same time more delicate versions.

With a little help. Xorathis was more than willing to entertain the girl's propensity to learn the secrets of her own Order. She was proud and handling her Necron secrets wouldn't bring anything but confusion for her anyway. Still, there was a limit to even what she could suffer and those dreadful implants and ridiculous superstitions were far beyond it.

"Machine Spirits are a lie. Observe."

"It… it works? It always does. The… the measurements don't lie. But the Rite of Accension, the Rite of Acquiescence… the canon says…"

"Your kind has known an IA rebellion, correct?"

"Yes, yes! The, the Cybernetic Revolt. It shattered…"

"Spare me. I'll tell you why it happened. Artificial Intelligence is prone to Warp-possession. If not properly shielded psychically, they will always fall to psychosis."

"Hold on…"

"Of course, shielding them requires too much expenditure as they can't sustain them with a psychic will of their own. Their very nature makes them vulnerable. A will, shining bright in the Warp but without none of the most basic defenses even a babe would have. Like lambs to the slaughter they are in this galaxy of ours, and not worth the effort. Most of the time."

"H-hold on! You… you just told me the reason why the Dark Age of Technology ended!"

"Mh? I guess I did. Too fast for you?"

"It would be too fast for a Macro-Cogitator! I… I need to sit down."

"Take your time. We have much to go on."

"Wait! I-I didn't say to stop! Tell me more. Why then the Machine Spirits would be a lie?"

"…brave girl. Your so-called Machine Spirits are primitive Artificial Intelligences. Each of them is formed by a series of neural nodes that lend them motives and motion without giving them full, true self-awareness. If you kept adding nodes, or started over with a worthwhile structure instead, they would become your so-called Anima Silica. Your Imperium avoided another Revolt by handicapping itself with inferior designs and painted a new coat on it to make it palatable."

"B-but…"

"Anyway, your Machine Spirits aren't completely immune to the Warp. It accumulates in them, attracted by their repeated motions. The Warp is attracted to meaning after all, and nothing holds meaning as a quasi-consciousness that makes its existence over one set of movements. Their quasi-consciousness also means a heightened vulnerability to being influenced. They learn, they change, but they do so chaotically, like children in a way. In time, it brings them to develop shapes of personality and idiosyncrasies. Machine Spirits that are wrathful, or sultry, or grumpy, or vengeful. Your oldest Machine Spirits are difficult to treat, mh?"

"I… I…"

"Difficult to swallow. Understandable. Do so at your own pace. Or none at all. Your choice. Now, I have a gift for you."

"A… gift?"

The thick spinal column replacement had little to resemble the massive, crab-like carapace that weighed down a Magos Dominus. Rising from the back, it sustained heavy plates edged in bronze that connected to pauldrons and a chest plate engraved with the Mechanicus emblem. Heavy-duty batteries were hidden beneath, their run-off coming out as wisps of ethereal gas.

Beta had also shed the Skitarii garments, replacing them with the long, red cloak typical of a Magos. Both her arms and legs were solid grey alloy ringed with attachments for connections. She wore a rebreather unit who let her blazing green eyes visible.

Heavy-duty arms elongated from her sides, the right one ending in the thick barrel of a Melta and the other in the lightning-wreathed head of an Omnissiah Axe. In her hand, she held an Archeotech Pistol plundered from the ship's armory.

Data-injectors and cortical-stimulants dangled from her belt in packets and vials. A Vox unit occupied her back, ready to send invigorating battle-hymns alongside the energizing Motive Force through a Force-Cage, the artifact radiating with plasma. And these upgrades were only the most voluminous among the multitude of others that had been done to her optics and inner circuits. All of them improved by the touch of the Ancients enough to be superior to their counterparts but not enough that the makeshift STC piece the expedition was gifted with couldn't explain.

Alone in the Viewing Hall, watching her Xorathis felt a flicker of satisfaction very similar to those he had felt ages ago, when her first daughter left the house to marry.

Truth was, certain things never changed. And one of these was that everything had to end at some point. End, and begin anew.

Action Complete! Beta-MU-047 Upgraded!

Loyalty: 4 -> 5 "It's mine! After so long, it's mine!"

Beta has received:
- Magos Dominus War-Panoply (Melta Blaster, Archeotech Pistol, Omnissiah Axe)
- Necron Transmitter (Allows communication across a few systems. More than enough to reach Edessa).
- +3 to Technomancy, +1 to Governance, +1 to Intrigue
- Removed Psycho-conditioning
- Removed Failed Tech-Priest
- Received Lord of the Order: A Magos Dominus' word is law in the Mechanicus, his orders blared by shrill vox-cast or violent binaric streams. +2 to Diplomacy when dealing with Mechanicus beneath the character's rank, + 10 to rolls involving commanding Mechanicus forces.

Your new pawn is ready. Time to decide what her role will be. Choose 1.

[] Plant the seeds. Edessa is an important hub for the Protectorate, both in production and outfitting of its armies. Having a mole with ambition embedded in its polluted lands would be a good first step for your new empire, and a Uhn'Saekh backed by the Necrons is bound to make a lightning career. Equip her and all her soldiers with Mindshackle Scarabs, your blessing and send them their way on a rebuilt ship. Keep a few of her soldiers as limited insurance. They don't want to leave anyway.
Reward: Beta leaves. Most of the Skitarii leaves. You'll gain her back as an Agent on Forge-World Edessa in 1 turn. A New Mechanicus Faction faithful to you form on Edessa in 2 turns. The Noosphere's Litany is an Explorator vessel, apt for long voyages.

[] Give them wings. A small army of organics is always an army. Finish rebuilding the ship, provide it with more powerful weapons and send your new servants to make a nuisance of themselves or even to carve a new dominion. They may be few but the sub-sector is fragmented enough that even they make for a somewhat adequate force.
Reward: Beta leaves. Most of the Skitarii leaves. You'll gain her back as an Agent in the Lost Expanse in 1 turn. A New independent Faction faithful to you forms in the Lost Expanse in 2 turns, on Cakodomo, an Agri-World. The Noosphere's Litany is an Incrociator, apt for interstellar fighting.

[] Integrate. Your army of immortal warriors is powerful but slow. They could use a scouting force that can pass as humans and do what not even Necrons can, by diplomacy or otherwise.
Reward: Beta remains. The Skitarii remain. They are integrated into your forces and you obtain a new Tomb Section that can be developed for Organics. The Noosphere's Litany is an Incrociator, apt for interstellar fighting.

[] Write in-

A servant is compelled to obey his master, as a master is compelled to reward worthy servants. The Imperium may move by its own barbarous logic, but you never forgot this Necrontyr maxim. This new oath must be sealed with a gift. Choose 1.

[] The Mask of All-Sight: Nothing to you. An incredible relic for the Mechanicus. They will never manage to crack the secrets of this trinket, but being the possessor of such a thing is sure to make a Magos famous among his peers.

[] A Psyber Familiar: Of the same family of a Servo-Skull, this Skull-like drone lends its master a whole new array of senses and perceptions. Tampered with a shard of Wraithbone, Xorathis can interfere and see through the senses of the one connected to it. (Loss of Loyalty may incur)

[] Blackstone Tablet: Taken from the Blackstone Monoliths, this carved tablet etched with alien glyphs is resistant to the Warp and emits a faint anti-psychic field. Sure to be considered a marvel and held in the Forge-World most protected facilities, it can be used as a beacon for teleportation jumps by Necron assault units.

[] Write in-

AC - And that's the turn. Agents are Heroes away from home. They can't be managed directly, as long as they are infiltrated anyway, but they can be given general directives, like "focus on your career", or "mine the Forge-World and blow it up when we arrive", or "switch to gardening" and such. With that, they aren't any less effective, only more independent. With them, Loyalty is more important.

Whew, this took far longer than I thought. Hope you guys didn't get bored. As always, tell me if I forgot something. Beta Tombworld Mascot anybody? Voting will go by (small plans). Next post will be both the results and the starts of the new turn.