Desert Reapers of Arthas Moloch

The Necrons of the Kar Chrok (Car, Trock) Dynasty are old, even by the standards of their own race. They have outlasted galaxies in their slumber. Even before the Silent King achieved his final victory against the C’tan, Seth’ ras, Phaeron of The Kar Chrok Dynasty, decreed that his people enter their stasis tombs. For he had seen what had become of his race-encased in metal, slaves to star killers, and the very thing they had hated beyond reason. They had become a plague upon themselves, one that should never have existed.

When the Old Ones had been overthrown and eradicated, Seth’ ras, and Seth’ ras alone, saw that like the rest of his race, he had become the very thing he had abhorred as a Necrontyr. Immortal. His resentment of his very existence drove him insane to the point where if you were to be alive, he would feel a contempt for you as fierce as the Necrontyr had for the Old Ones. This is where many believe that the first case of a Necron to suffer the “Destroyer Curse”, occured.

Worlds burned beneath the might of his legions, yet he would have brief moments of sanity. Brief for a necron at any rate. In which he could see that soon, there would be no life left for the C’tan to feed on and when the Silent King called on all of his race to rise up against their fickle gods, he ordered his legions to fight alongside the rest of the Dynasties.

However, a great battle came, upon the world of Arthas Moloch where a shard of The Deceiver had been trapped (The Deceiver knew for aeons already, that he could split himself into many, and used it to his advantage, although he was still far more powerful than the shards the Necrons have imprisoned in their tesseract labyrinths). Feeding off of the indecision of Seth’ ras’s mind, he tricked him into spreading the “Destroyer Curse” to the rest of his dynasty and to the other Necrons on the planet. Intending for them to wipe each other out, his plan backfired.

Although the Necrons that could, resented themselves, the shard of The Deceiver was even more deserving of their absolute hate. Only after it had been split again and sealed away in another dimension, did allies become enemies due to the sheer hatred caused by the curse. The terrible battles that ensued would have made exterminatus look like a mere bolter round compared to the Necron's arcane weaponry, but in the end, the Kar Chrok dynasty won. The price of victory was high. It’s grand armies had been reduced to a mere fragment of it’s original power and now the C’tan and the Necrons, would both seek to destroy them once and for all.

In a last sane act, Seth’ ras had the webway sealed off from the planet, meaning it would take any armies sent against him millions of years to reach the isolated world. He ordered the construction of a single tomb complex. Buried into massive furrows, scoured into the earth by unimaginable weaponry, to preserve what was left of his failing dynasty. The other option, face the wrath of the C'tan and The Silent King. Seth’ ras, now having fully succumbed to the Destroyer Curse, took his own life after having ensured that his dynasty would live on. Although the stasis crypts slow the curse, it can never truly be stopped and so, more and more of the remaining dynasty fall to it over the billions of years that pass.

And now, after aeons, they have woken. Disturbed by the constant war of the 41st millennium, in the aftermath of several brutal campaigns upon the surface, most notably, the Damocles Gulf Crusade. They have emerged into a universe rich with life and only a few have escaped the effects of the curse. The eastern fringe will once again become empty, and they shall have back what is rightfully theirs.

Their raids have increased with each passing year. From small settlements and facilities, to entire colonies and small worlds. Only one image has ever been recorded of the attackers and that was by a humble Shas’ la of the Sa’ cea sept, who died soon after from his grievous wounds.

The Kar Chrok have been traced back to the Artefact World of Arthas Moloch, but no sign of their existence has ever been found on the planet. They have become known as “The Desert Reapers of Arthas Moloch” to the Tau Empire and it’s associated races because they almost appear to be harvesting worlds. Wherever their name is spoken, fear fills the hearts of the people, because wherever they strike... None survive.

The Necrons of the Kar Chrok (Car, Trock) Dynasty are old, even by the standards of their own race. They have outlasted galaxies in their slumber. Even before the Silent King led his people to victory against the C’tan, Seth’ ras, the Phaeron of the Kar Chrok, decreed that his people enter their stasis tombs. He had seen what had become of his race—encased in metal, slaves to star killers—the very thing they had once hated so. They had become a plague upon themselves

A few points:
-- It isn't clear to me if Seth'ras went into stasis during or after the War In Heaven. Your story seems to have both.
I've edited the post now so hopefully it makes it a bit clearer but yes, his dynasty goes into stasis before The Silent King was victorious against the C'tan.
-- Was Seth'ras embroiled in a civil war against other Necrons? I couldn't follow the ending.
It wasn't so much that he was in a civil war, more the idea that the "destroyer curse" turned every Necron on the planet against each other after the shard had been imprisoned. The silent king would be after them due to them being a threat, as well as the C'tan having them in their sites.
-- Arthas Moloch has a some sort of dark and convoluted history, and it might not be Necron. The Scythes of the Emperor purged the planet, then some sort of "shrine world", in M39. And it's at Arthas Moloch that Farsight engaged an unknown enemy "in the ruins of a pre-human civilization" and lost his Ethereal advisors. What I'm saying is: it might be better to chose a non-GW-made planet, as your fluff runs the risk of running up against GW's official background. Also, from a more practical point of view: why didn't this previous fighting awaken your Necrons?
Edited to change that. The revival process is slow so the wars before the Gulf Crusade would have caused stirrings but it was the Crusade itself that woke them. My reasons for choosing Arthas Moloch were for the exact reasons you described. There is only one tomb complex on the planet which means I can leave plenty of room for official fluff (if there is any). I have still left any explanation of who the Dawn Blade belonged to, to the official fluff, and their could easily be a shrine to the Old Ones on the other side of the planet. So really, I haven't answered any questions but just put the necrons there and added to the mystery.
-- Also, in the same vein as my above comment: your fluff seems dedicated to preserving remnants of the old Necron fluff concerning the C'Tan, which has problems of its own. I know that's what you're going for, but I'd much prefer the implication that some C'Tan fragments have agendas all their own, not that "the Deceiver always so this coming, nenenene." Official fluff thrives on ambiguity and multiple interpretations, and that's not really a bad thing.
To be honest, I know hardly anything about the old fluff, I only had access to the 3rd ed codex for half an hour and that was about 5 years ago. I was just trying to think of something along the lines that The Deceiver would do and still be unexpected i.e. splitting himself willingly. Whereas The Nightbringer would just charge into the most heavily defended Necron world he could find, I imagine The Deciever thinking something like "divide and conquer". Forcing the Necrons into splitting up and dealing with each individual shard or face multiple attacks from the same thing at the same time.

-- In my opinion, some of your turns of phrase ("The terrible battles would have made exterminatus look like a bullet in the face of a nuclear warhead") come across as juvenile.
Point taken, edited to make it seem something a little less cheesy.
Anyways, I do think that your story has a lot of promise -- and as first efforts go, it's quite amazing. Some of my first stuff is buried on this site, and by the Aun, it's terrible. I mean my comments only to be constructive, and I think you should be really proud of this work.

Ark Su’ nan: Phaeron of The Kar Chrok Dynasty

Now that the remnants of the Kar Chrok Dynasty are stirring, few of the remaining Necrons have found themselves to be unaffected by the destroyer curse. Many of them have melded themselves to the machines they pilot while others have decayed in their madness. Their tomb complex was not built to the quality of the countless others across the galaxy. Simply because the battle with The Deceiver and the other dynasties on the planet, left very few raw materials to build a sanctuary for the Kar Chrok in their eternal slumber. Many of Seth’ ras’ legions did not rise, including the Triarch Praetorians and Lychguard, whose minds were eaten away over the countless aeons.

Those that weren’t immediately affected by the curse have brief moments of sanity, but they too, are slowly being corrupted as their minds are malevolently twisted, deep below the surface of Arthos Moloch. They exist in a state of constant distrust, believing only themselves to be sane while in reality, each and everyone of them is a prisoner of their infected minds.

Most notable of these is the self appointed Phaeron, Arch Su’ nan (Ark-Sue-Naan). He seems the least affected by the curse and appointed himself leader as no other candidate was, in his view, suitable for the position. However, he knows there are those that would see him deposed and while each and every one of his lords and over lords are quite mad, the only reason they let him stay in power is the simple fact that it would take several of them to unseat him, and none are willing to trust the other.

Arch Su’ nan was low in the heirachy Seth’ ras’s court, a mere lord of one valueless system. Seizing his opportunity for power, he declared himself Phaeron and ascended the ranks. Alas, he is not the best leader at any rate and without the guidance of the Triarchs, the remains of the Kar Chrok Dynasty have no hope. Few are left to care though, because soon, he will join them. He will become just another embittered machine, purging life simply because he can never truly be just that. Alive. While every passing moment, the curse gains a foothold in his mind, and ironically, makes him a better leader. For if one is to slaughter, then one must adapt to find new ways of killing and so his knowledge of war does also.

As Phaeron, he is expected to lead his people in battle. He would have once found such a task distasteful but the curse brings upon him a glee and an unstoppable blood lust. He leads pinpoint strikes atop his command barge, giving himself an unparalleled view of the carnage with which he can satisfy his thirst for blood. But it grows unquenchable, to the point where the annihilation of worlds is relished by the Phaeron and whole star systems are purged of inferior beings, who are nothing compared to his own magnificent existence. When he is not cleansing worlds of life, he is constantly augmenting himself so he may kill more efficiently. All the while his consciousness is slowly receding and soon there will be nothing left but raw hatred and contempt.

There is a deeper threat though. At the back of his mind there are whispers, an echo. “The universe must be sterilised of all life. What happens when you are the last one left?” And The Deceiver talks to him through all the aeons, chides him, and makes fickle promises to him. For he will have his revenge against the only race in all of history that tricked him. If Arch Su’ nan were to help him though, he will be spared The Deceiver’s terrible wrath and he will rule at the right hand of his god for all eternity.

I want to do something similar with my 'crons, having a boltgun metal or darker undercoat that will be concealed (unless damaged) by a crisp white coating with a ceramic appearance.

The blade looks cool, and it appears you've spent some time being patient and jockeying wash around to gradate how you want it. I would add more contrast via black and scorpion green to make it really appear powered and lethal!

Maybe you should try a base coat of dheneb stone, wash the joints and other little nooks and crannies with gryphonne sepia, then paint the rest of the model bleached bone. I think that wold give it a very sterile and clean look.

Excellent suggestion, in fact, this result is very close to how I already paint my some of my Eldar stuff! Check out this fella:

I've got a few more, but I don't want to hi-jack your thread to show off my 'lords.

I did these back before washes were available, so i'll have to experiment with what is out there and see where I go with it all. Your thread and advice is first on the list to try out.

modelglue