So I've been screwing about with a couple concepts and wanted to get some input on them. It may well be that folks just decide 40K isn't the venue to do this, but I figured I'd throw some ideas out there anyway.
As Necrons stand now most view them as completely soulless machines that do little other than destroy. That said, there is background to suggest personalities (the Herald of the Storm) and them having actual goals (the suggestion that a former Culexus acted as a Necron envoy to negotiate with the Imperium during a war).
So this begs the question, just how much of a personality do Necrons have? Can they have goals/form a society that isn't based solely on killing?
My concept was that there was a pocket of Necrons that are isolated from an C'Tan and (the few with personalities) have decided to rebuild some semblance of society. We know from Pariahs that Necrons can assimilate other beings into their ranks so it stands to reason that they may be able to "rebuild" to a certain degree or at least create some kind of hybrids.
The images I kept getting was of a sparsely populated planet on the fringe between Imperial space and a Necron stronghold that acted as a kind of neutral ground. It would have operative on it that were partially Necron (perhaps just with pieces of assimilated Necron tech) and be somewhat of a hotbed for illegal tech trade.
Outlandish, I know. Heretical? Certainly. The question is, does it sound beyond the pale? Interested to hear your thoughts, I'll develop this further as people reply.
I think that some of the necrons have retained a large part of their personality(the necron lords). It seems reasonable that some among the lesser necrons would have retained at least a partof their personality as well. It would be possible for a small group of necrons retaining a part of who they once were to attempt to return to what they could see as the good old times, the time before they lost almost everything to become necrons. THis obviously would work best for a group with little to no contact with the C'tan, most likely the necron servants of one who has been destroyed and whose forces have since its death remained independent.
It could be possible to implant humans with parts of necron technology, there is no reason that it should only be doable with soulless beings.
This planet you propose could exist. I think however that the necrons would set themselves up as the rulers of the planet and impose the society they desire on the populace.
It seems likely that the higher ranking the necron, the more personality they retain. I'm a bit suspicious of this since loyalty to the C'Tan was pretty hardwired before they became necrons, but with only 4 C'tan left it seems more than likely that there are some forgotten enclaves, and that these may have begun behaving oddly (by their standards).
I'm not sure about the partly necron operative idea, but someone with some implanted necron tech, possibly someone who had been experimenting with it himself, seems possible. Very few people would sanction anything of this sort, but the mechanicus does have a history of trying to get its hands on 'archeotech' on necron sites.
I think that the necrons were hardwired into becoming loyal to a specific C'Tan, those are immensely jealous beings after all. Most groups were either destroyed or incorporated by one of the surviving C'Tan, this mostly seems to happen when the C'Tan was consumed by another. It could be possible that these necrons had been ordered to never obey another and remain loyal to their master's last command. Another possibility is that their C'Tan was destroyed by other means, such as the Talismans of Vaul.
The necrons could implant necron-like technology in those they consider to be most like what they aspire to be in order to build a new society. They have the technology, they can rebuild them.
The 5th Ed rulebook features this line -
QuoteOthers (Other Necron Lords) have been driven utterly insane by the weight of aeons. Believing themselves to be the reincarnations of ancient gods, these Necron Lords have their consciousnesses grafted into ever newer and more grandiose forms as they embark on campaigns of conquest and destruction
which has been interpreted as GW setting up the removal of the C'Tan from battlefield forces to something more similar to the Chaos Gods. At the very least, it implies that not all active Necrons are receiving orders from the C'Tan, and so opens up the possibility of infighting...
A non-Imperial human world with Necron tech on it being the subject of illegal trading... well, there's already Gorkamorka :D Though that had Orks too. But it was heavily implied that the "Diggaz" (feral humans) and the mysterious beings in the metal pyramids (gosh, who could that be!) existed side by side, in some way...
If you want a good idea of Necron politics, read 'The Fall of Damnos' Space Marine Battles novel. It has several necron lord characters with various personalities and gives a good insight into the workings of Necron society (possibly with a nod to a revamp of their background with a potential new codex coming soon).
J][M
Necrons with personalities...
Am I the only one thinking of Marvin the Paranoid Necron?
I don't know much about Necrons, but reading the points put forward above it sounds very plausible. I say go for it!