There is another version of ending War in the Heavens. C'tan and Necron were basically 99% winning when that one C'tan known as Deceiver (back then he was called "the Messenger" - Sauron reference anyone) working with his good buddy Ceagorah, convinced other C'tan, mainly Nightbringer, Outsider, Void Dragon and few other lesser ones, that Galaxy, now devoid of life would be hard to live in, and so they should turn towards their lesser brothers (minor C'tan) and well, eat them. In order to consolidate their powers and secure food supply for those that would win the war. And so suddenly C'Tan begun to eat each other. War effectively stopped for some time as C'tan were tearing each other apart, this sudden stop of weird shit happening in the Warp, just after it was flooded in violent shit for so long created the first "nopes" of the warp. Proto-Deamons, Enslavers and Psychneuein begun flooding into real realm through all warp-dependant species. Now this was the first time something like this happened, no one really knew how, why and how to stop that. And so with super powerful psykers in the Old Ones, and Eldar being the dominant species in the galaxy thay had a field day. Especially the enslavers. They either exterminated the Old Ones, or forced them to nope out of our galaxy forever, decimated Eldar, and basically scoured galaxy of life in a speed that Necron never could. Now being a host dependant species, they over stretched their population. Without new Eldar (reminders basically hid, and stopped using psychic powers completely) or Old ones to host them, all the Enslavers in materium starved to death. Meanwhile C'Tan were finishing their civil war, Outsider (being one of the few big ones) concluded that this was a huge mistake, wend mad, and closed himself in a Dyson sphere somewhere in the far reaches of the Galaxy. Void Dragon (another big player) just noped out of the agreement and went travelling. And so with number of the C'tan so diminished some Necron were lifted of the control the C'Tan had over them. Szarekh, being ashamed of selling their people to the Star gods, and not wanting the war to continue, seeing this chance went full freedom and using unknown weapon that shattered reality itself shattered the Remaining C'tan in to shards (pokemon balls). Surviving C'tan were no real danger, Void Dragon would wander the galaxy until he met Emprah who then punched him into Mars where he bound him, Outside is still moping somewhere and Deceiver ... well he either let some of his essence to be split and used by the Necron or he got really caught and them slowly somehow got out. We know he got out because in may books he is still searing shit up around the galaxy. He controls at least part of Administratorum, Gave Failbaddon an awesome deamon stick that made him harder to assassinate and betray, while making him easier for Deceiver to control, It was even hinted he started the Gothic war by telling Abby about the Blackstone Fortress while disguised as a crone. Anyway Old Ones are out of the picture, Eldar are decimated, and Necron gained back control over themselves but also expended themselves do they went to sleep. In the end Eldar are the only ones left and they cope with losing both their parents and their bullies by having a massive orgy. After all the galaxy will not repopulate itself.
So, the Old Ones conquer the entire galaxy but get fucked by Gods and die. Then the Eldar conquer the entire galaxy, but then they fuck until they create a God, and die. Then humans conquer the entire galaxy but get raped by robots and sent back to the Stone Age. Then humanity comes back again but before they finish conquering the galaxy they get fucked by a God that convinces half their army to turn and rape them. I sense a recurring theme.
All I'm getting from that is that humans are too stubborn to just die off like the previous two empires. Chaos wiped out the old ones without an issue. Chaos nearly wiped out the eldar and even after millenia they're still doing the equivalent of crying in the shower after Slanesh molested their souls. Humanity didn't even bother waiting for chaos, we fucked ourselves with robots, recovered, THEN got fucked by chaos, recovered again and now chaos is trying to fuck us again, but can't seem to manage it no matter how hard it tries. And that's considering the imperium is technologically and culturally crippled. "Paralyzed from the nose down" levels of crippled. If the big E were to come back and get it up and running again, pretty much everyone in the galaxy, god or otherwise, would be fucked instead. Except maybe the orks, who'd be having a blast.
15:00 Another interpretation I have about the tyranids, taken in part from the Imperial Fists book, _Space Marine_, and added to what you proposed, is that the old ones may have seeded them as a sort of fail-safe. In that book a tyranid attempts to communicate with the Marines, being a first contact situation, and it describes their mission as something good and necessary, which the humans should be overjoyed to see -- to assimilate psychically attuned races, to destroy and calm the daemonic forces who prey upon them from the warp, and thereby turn the warp back into a less chaotic state -- because, as it's been described to me, when the old ones inhabited it the warp had been rather tranquil, like a paradise pre- "war in heaven" era. This is from the school of lore I'd subscribe to, at least. Maybe, though it's just a thought, the tyranid's "usefulness" is to be something like a cleanup crew in the event of catastrophic failure, deaths, and/or loss of the war, that beacon being the signal to then allow the galaxy to start over from scratch; or perhaps even let any rare, surviving old ones return to their previous way of existence. Could be? If indeed that's how they originally came about, as more than just a random, outside force of nature?
given the way the nids collect and store biomass/dna they could in theory also be used to reseed any races they absorbed basically wipe the slate clean and start over with a fresh batch birthed from the hive fleets
“Oh, I should be happy to be melted by bio acid, eaten alive by microscopic beetles, perhaps even get my spinal cord torn out by razor sharp teeth??? You and I have a different interpretation of good things, bug boy!” I never like that way of thinking, it just assumes that everyone is on the same page, which is just ignorant to think by anything.
@@omegawilliam95s36 This theory Just again shows the old ones are a stupid Race. Another one to throw on the pile of „civilization that would realistically never make it“
I like the theory of them having more of a purpose and not just being the bugs that may have conquered every other galaxy and now are about to finish off life in ours.
15:20 I also like the idea of the Tyranids being a left-over Old One weapon, but what I've read (mainly on 1d4Chan, which uses citations) is that the Tyranids tend to avoid Necron tomb-worlds, even as-yet-undiscovered ones, and the Astronomican is what's drawing the Hive Mind's attention to the Milky Way.
27:05 "They travel through unkown MEMES". Oh god. Now I picture the Ordos Xenos studying a xenos species by researching their MEMES to understand their culture and society. Do you think there are memes in the 41M?
Evolution easily explains the change in the Enslavers modus operandi and power level. The initial Enslavers were able to reproduce at a staggering rate, but that, in turn wiped out their food supply, leading to a widespread extinction. This would have potentially left a small number of significantly less powerful, more calculating beings that that have much more long term viability since they do not wipe out their own food source.
I really want to see a Warhammer 40k first person shooter where you play as the Tau empire and your character selection is a Tau firewarrior, a Kroot carnivore, a Vespid scientist, and another character. (im open to suggestions) It would play like Halo complete with optional vehicles only you have a weapon wheel. Each of the characters has his or her own reasons for fighting. The Tau firewarrior he fights for the greater good, the Kroot carnivore he’s out for revenge on an Imperial inquisitor, and the Vespid scientist she is motivated by her desire to study the enemy.
Thank you arch, every time I want to go and learn more about 40k lore by myself you drop a bomb like this on me and put me back in my place where I am like "you know just let the experts who been doing it for years now do the work your just going to get lost and hurt."
There's also a theory that the Tyranids were created by a C'Tan called the Outsider as a finally "screw you" to the galaxy. However I prefer the idea that the Old Ones created the Tyranids as a sort of cleansing agent, clearing the galaxy to render it fit for a renewed era of peaceful seeding by the surviving Old Ones...just like old times :)
+Lee Jenkins The problem I find with this theory is the fact that if the old ones did indeed create them, then why are they avoiding the Necrons? i would imagine the old ones would have made them at least willing to combat there ancient enemy.
+DoomDummy yes, that's my biggest issue with it too. If you're principle nemesis is made of living metal with no psychic imprint, then why create something which is attracted to psychic footprints and only wants organic matter?!
+DoomDummy I can come up with two reasons: First both the C'Tan and Necrons have an interest in sentient species, former as food, latter as potential new organic bodies. So ridding the whole galaxy of life, without waking them is quite the finger i guess. Imagine: the majority of the Necrons finally wakes up, tons are beyond repair, decay has become a real threat and all thats left in the galaxy are rocks. Not just planets rid of sentient life as probably after the War in Heaven, this time around there is nothing left. Can the Necrons take another sleep like that? One even longer than that? And the Old Ones are known to take their time, so the time needed doesnt appear as ridiculous as it normally would. As for the second reason: If you are going to eat everything in the galaxy and destroy a enemy you cant eat in what order will you go about it? By eating the Tyranids dont just grow in number, they also gain genetical information, considering the Old Ones engineered races to fight the Necrons, wouldnt it be a good idea to gather any gene info that might have survived all that time? Also whatever happened to the races mutation wise might prove useful too. To me this comes down to the question what is the better choice: Facing the mostly dormant Necrons with a weaker force while facing other threats, or taking the risk of the Necrons awakening to an uncertain degree and taking them on while your forces are at their strongest concerning numbers and gene info without facing other threats. I would go for the latter, but thats maybe just me. So, yeah thats what i can come up with right now^^
+Leeroy Johnson Those are some good points. However, if my memory serves me correct, the Necrons went to sleep AFTER breaking the old ones. The old ones really had no way to predict that the Necrons would turn on the C'tan, then go to sleep. So i do not think they would have had the foresight to develop a species to come and wipe the life out 60 million years later when the Necrons were sleeping.
Memory serves you right, although it was never mentioned that ALL Old Ones were dead, so maybe a little revenge from pissed survivors? Although i have to admit that this is grasping at straws, On the other hand the Tyranids might have not travelled between galaxys, but were a weapon deemed to radical to use by the Old Ones, thus "stored" outside the Galaxy. Basically its more likely Old Ones and Tyranids have no connection, they just happen to have all traits it would take to restore the galaxy into a Old One friendly habitat.
Personal head cannon: There was an old one enclave in another galaxy doing their thing until word of the War in Heaven reaches them. They had shifted in their ethics for some reason and created the Tyranids as a counter against the necron. They added an incredibly important instinct (like a salmon’s instinct to swim back to the same place it was born in) that would trigger when a certain trigger was activated (This trigger being the overloading of the old one’s device) swarm on its location.
I think the term "cold blooded wisdom" could mean that they were somewhat beyond the emotions of most races/species, making decisions based on what's good for a species instead of individual needs. I personally imagine that the Old Ones were also beyond standard mortal bodies and could adopt just about any form to communicate with the younger races.
I think Arch may be correlating the 40k/pre 40k Old Ones with the Warhammer FB "Cold Ones" (Lizardmen) also said to be the 1st children of the Old Ones. As the first they were likely made in their own image
I imagine that the Imperium's response to finding an Enslaver plague taking over a planet, will be to drop the exterminatus on that planet unless the planet is too valuable to be blasted from orbit. Seems to be their favourite way of dealing with these sorts of things.
Theory: The Tyranids are an evolution of the Enslavers. This would explain a lot about their abundance, their unique psychic abilities (Shadow in the warp and Synapse) and their pull towards signs of intelligent life in order to absorb all life on the planets they encounter, particularly in their pull towards signs of the Old Ones. Edit: With no more intelligent life to consume within a large radius and the population of Enslavers reaching critical mass, its not too much of a leap to assume that a lot of them would have turned on eachother forcing a huge evolutionary pressure that lead to an organism that consumes all that it comes into contact with. We also know that some hive fleets compete for resources like any other organism, to some extent, even with eachother and the "Shadow in the Warp" would have provided a huge advantage to the newly evolved Tyranids against their Enslaver brethren. The reason Enslavers and Tyranids were very rare in our galaxy until recently would be that having consumed all life the Enslavers would have migrated out to new pastures and the few that remained would have been defective, wandering individuals with no guiding purpose.
I think when it says the Tyranids found when they were looking for, I think it means food. While they were wandering through the empty wastes between galaxies, a few hive-fleets starved to death and died. Therefore I think it's safe to assume that the remaining hive-fleets were desperate and starving. One of the main theories behind the Tyranids is that either they completely devoured all the biomass where they originally came from, or something even more terrifying forced them to flee to somewhere else.
14:11 if the tyranids were created by the old ones in another galaxy then it'd have to be andromeda galaxy - being the one we're on a collision course for. But they would have probably been made for their great war, as the spanning of 40k+ years isn't anywhere near enough to travel (even at light speed) between the two. Even if they did travel through the warp, would that mean that chaos exists in other galaxies? and why would they then worry about the emperor being able to wipe them out, as the universe is F'ing huge... (Edit: unless they were hovering around the band of dark matter around our galaxy in a dormant state?)
I remember the old short stories about the Necrontyr describing them as going into hibernation due to a "infestation", which we now know as the Enslaver Plagues, rather than defeat at the hands of the Old Ones. Then again, that was before they got turned into Tomb Kings in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! As for the whole "slow and cold intelligence" bit, I thought the statement was more figurative than literal, as beings above trite concepts like time and empathy. From the WFRP lore, their minds were proof against the blandishments of the Warp, which is feeling made manifest, so I figure their minds were simply that alien.
It's nice to see that something was done with the Enslavers. Were one of many creatures/entities that first appeared in Rouge Trader that than faded into the ether, never to be mentioned again.
Dude, awesome video. Also, I have to mention, its relieving to see a video that doesn't go into the crazy notion that the Old Ones created Humans (The Enslaver Plague happened 60 MYA, so "humans" were still rodents which spawned almost ALL mammals on Earth).
K, as a huge science fantasy fan - knowing tons about the star wars and shadow run universes -, and a newcomer in regards to 40k, i gotta say: the thing that flashes me the most about 4k is the sheer size and logical detail that went into everything. Holy shit. Well...... and also this absolutely rational part of the lore speaks to the well developed sociopath inside of me.
This is the lore I remember; The Old ones had an empire that covered the galaxy. The Necrontyr were jealous of their long life, and begged the old ones to help them with their short lives. The Old ones refused, and the Necrontry started, and lost, a war against them, and were pushed back to their homeworld. They found the C'tan, and in exchange for the power the C'tan gave them, living metal bodies, they were enslaved. The C'tan and the Necons started a new war with the Old ones and won the war. They were only beaten back by the enslaver plague. The Old ones were virtually annihilated and the Necrons went into hibernation to wait out the plague. The lore has probably been changed, but this much?
+Chris Edwards You are right. I don't know where Arch is getting this. Although the lore you speak of is actually outdated. Now, it goes that the Necrons then revolted against the C'tan, smashed them into millions of shards, and then went into hibernation due to the absolute destruction both the war in heaven, the enslavers, and the revolt.
Cool video Arch! i just read a thousand sons and i thought that the psychneuein were the epitome of shit your pants scary, until i learned of the slavers... it really is satisfiyng when various pieces of warhammer 40k come together.
What about tts version where the Krorks+Eldar+other races were actually beating the Necrontyr/C'tan + the Deceiver started a civil war amongst the C'tan leading to the Necrontyr+remaining C'tan going into hiding while the Krorks and Enslavers finished off the remaining Old Ones?
The Tyranids could be the olds ultimate sanction.If they lost the war in heaven the last old one would call the Tyranids with the beacon, to ensure the Ctan and any of there servants got wiped out . Basically a galaxy reset button.
The Tyranids seem more inclined towards being designed to fight the Enslavers. Synapse creatures and the shadow in the warp seem specifically designed to counter psychic ability that can dominate other beings. High biological adaptability ensures that slave armies of various kinds can be dealt with, bonus for all those poisons, venoms, toxins, acids, etc to kill off the physical form of the slaver. If as implied the Necrontyr were largely losing the war, doesn't seem likely the Old Ones would leave the galaxy and purge it. The Slavers make a perfect threat for the Tyranids to counter.
Enslaver infestation tactics seems suspiciously similar to the Tyranid one... So either the two species are related or the good old tentacle dinosaurs gobbled a few enslavers back in the day on top of apparently being immune their influence
i have a theory concerning that the oldones may still be around. remember how they cultivated races like plants? and how they are insanely advanced? also they manipulated dimensions like the warp. now let us remember how the tau came to be: -a warpstorm engulfed ther world and shrouded what happened on it in mysterie -etherials appear and unify the tau race -the tau find unity in their ideals of a greater good for all beeings -the tau develope highly advanced machines at the insane speed of beeing cavemen one moment and beeing a starspanning empire only 10000 years later. (advancing THAT quickly can't be normal) this sounds to me like maybe the oldones came back and are trying to do some good while staying hidden. (i know how tau are not "pure good" but lets face it: if anyone can/want to bring peace it is them)
The old necron army book I have stated that the necrons declared war on the old ones because they were jealous of them for living so long. At first they were winning but then the old ones got the upper hand and started kicking the necrontyr around. At this point the necrontyr discovered and contacted the C'tan, enlisting them to help fight the old ones. Which they did, at a price. the price being that the necrons would transfer their intelligences to robotic bodies rendering them immortal (something the necrons wanted) and giving up thier bioenergy or life energy to the C'tan (who were hungry and devoloped a taste for it).
The necrontyr made giant metal vessels with the same energy signature as a sun to draw the c'tan in and trap them, because despite hating their sun they needed it.
I think the chaos warp wasn't too active due to the small number of intelligent lifeforms. Chaotic entities require the mental energies of living things, and during this time, there were not that many living things. However, with the deaths of old ones and the c'tun, chaotic entities grew off of these violent deaths, especially the c'tun's deaths. I theorize that the enslavers behaved in a manner similar to the c'tun, because the enslavers grew from the dead and living c'tuns' desires. So, I theorize the enslavers to be dead as, the entities that know about them are too few, and the c'tun are a dead race, thus sustaining their existance is impossible.
There is creatures similar to the enslaver call space devoreurs in the star wars universe, they are exteguinsh now (or maybe not, somewhere in the cold darkness of the unknow Regions....) They use to board ship enslave the population, and then...
Maybe the Enslavers are the reflection of the Old Ones in the Warp. Things from the Warp that appear in the material world are something like an echo, they aren't exactly the same as their original and are appearing with a delay. Both the Old Ones and the Enslavers control populations but in different ways. Now that the Old Ones are gone and diminished in power, the Enslavers, being their reflection have also diminished in power.
I thought the necrontyr and the old ones where at war before the necrontyr fount the ctan, and that they only made a deal with it as a last resort as they where getting their asses kicked by the old ones
In the new Necron Fluff, the Enslaver plague doesn't appear. The Silent King just kinda ordered them that it was time for to go to bed. The silent King is a enormous idiot, in my point of view, equal to Abbadon. Problem: My own race is fighting itself and I'm losing control. Solution: Attack an incredible powerful and functionally immortal race. Problem: My race is quickly going extinct because were fighting an incredible powerful and functionally immortal race. Solution: Transform my entire race into robots at the mercy of alien gods and under my absolute control. Problem: My race has it's life energy eaten by alien gods. Solution: Attack the gods, divide them into pieces and keep them as weapons. Problem, My enemies are defeated, my race is broken but functional and I have basically control over them, and through them the galaxy. Solution. Give all of my race still able to somewhat think freedom from my absolute control. But not before telling them to go to sleep for billions of years and then abandoning them while I travel into the void. Or, if the Enslaver plague happened Problem: My enemies have opened the gates of hell and all biological minds in the universe are in danger of being eaten. Solution: Dig in my race in for billions of years and abandon them while I travel into the void.
+Ruben Plooster The first three solutions there don't seem particularly stupid ones top the problems proposed, not to mention you are leaving out a lot of important context there. The solution for the civil war seemed more driven by pride and circumstance than simple stupidity. I mean how exactly is pledging the allegiance of your entire race to a bunch of immortal and nearly all powerful gods a bad idea when your race is facing extinction through war anyway. How exactly is shattering and enslaving the race of alien gods that ate your races life energy and souls a stupid move? And the Necrons going to sleep was done because they weren't just extremely weakened by war, but because they where still on the loosing end of conflicts with the old ones creations, particularly the Eldar. Heck in the old fluff the Ctan did the exact same thing with the old ones so why is the idea of a war weary and nearly broken race of Necrons doing it dumb?
Declan Ellery The solution for the civil war wasn't as much to save the Necrontyr race but to keep the Triarch in power. And it wasn't the war in itself that's stupid, it was the target. And it wasn't so much that there was an alliance between the C'tan and the Necrontyr, rather enslavement for the vast majority of the Necrontyr by the C'tan. Attacking the alien gods wasn't a terrible idea, and keeping them around as slave themselves might seem like a good idea, if slaves never revolted. Retreating and rebuilding are quite valid plans for a losing force, that's still made up of respawning robots, is a far better idea than burying your entire race for untold billions of years leaving it to pure chance if any indeed awaken. And of course leaving your race dormant and defenseless to go muck around in the void isn't what I call clever. The Silent King is a perfect example of hubris, believing his race can only survive through his guidance but fumbles at key points.
Ruben Plooster In regards of targets, there wasn't really any other target available as far as we know, the nectrotyr and the old ones where the most powerful races around at the time. Not to mention the Necrotyr probably thought they actually could take on the Old ones, hubris is a factor here though it was likely a race thing rather than a Silent King thing. The Silent King didn't know they where going to be enslaved, he thought it would be an alliance, in fact that difference between what he believed and what actually happened was pretty crucial in the decision to revolt. They can't actually destroy the C'tan, they lack the means to do so, they can only shatter them into weaker, easier to manage but still very powerful shards. They usually just imprison C'tan but since the shards are so powerful they can be a very potent weapons hence the reason they sometimes take them out of their prisons and use them as slaves in combat, imprisoning is the primary goal here, enslaving isn't all that common. There's also likely a revenge factor in making the C'tan slaves, the whole you enslaved us so now we enslave you. Also simple retreating to a distance wasn't an option against the Eldar, they would simply hunt them down if they just retreated, they had webway travel after all so hiding was necessary. And given the Eldar's technology, very extraordinary measures had to be taken to hide the Necrons from the Eldar, hence the slumber. Now hubris was definitely a big factor in a few of these decisions, but there is a good deal of logic behind most of his decisions, its not just blind arrogance.
+Declan Ellery The war's only goal was to keep the Triarch and the Silent King in power. A strong social revolt or unifying ideology might have serve better for the empire. And if you strike an enemy while not certain of their power, you are indeed a fool in my eyes. The Silent King didn't know they were being enslaved by the C'tan, sure.. He knew that he would have the master control program that made him the absolute authority over the newly minted Necrons. He knew his entire race was about to be enslaved, he just thought it was enslaved to him. Yes, the means to destroy a C'tan are unknown, if possible. But keeping shards of gods you shattered around and using them on the battlefield might not be a smart thing to do. I would have buried it deep within some far of exo-planets. And not all the C'tan are shattered. There might yet be a reckoning. The C'tan and the Necrons invaded the Webway and with it, broke the old ones and at the moment of victory the Necrons fell upon the C'tan. Now the Necrons were greatly reduced in numbers and weakened, yes. But that doesn't explain why burying yourself for billions of years is a better idea. You still have the same spend force when you wake up, perhaps less because of unforeseen consequences. And no idea what's going on in the universe. Perhaps not blind arrogance, no, but certainly the arrogant logic that the Silent King's way was the best. And so I call him an idiot. For gambling his entire race in a hope for him to stay in power, not for failing.
Ruben Plooster "The war's only goal was to keep the Triarch and the Silent King in power." Except for the little detail where the civil wars where literally destroying the species, and before you go on about how a war with the old ones wouldn't do any better, I will reiterate that the Necrotyr though they could actually win the war, and the fact that civil wars tend to be more destructive than most. The Silent King genuinely believed that he was the best leader for the Nectons, which is likely how he justified the command protocols. However my argument was never that he didn't enslave his race (though he probably didn't see it that way), but rather that he didn't think they would be enslaved by the C'tan. There is arrogance in that belief yes, but not stupidity. The Silent King is not the one using the enslaved C'tan, pretty much as soon as they where beaten he left the rest of the Necron species. He just imprisoned them. The use of them as slaves is done by individual Necron lords and Overlords, and that's usually only in extreme circumstances, most of the shards spend their entire existence stuck in the prisons, the Necrons don't actually take them out veyr often. AN those that do are indeed probably playing with fire and being a bit stupid for the sake of arrogance or vengeance, they aren't the Silent King. The fact that the Necrons could use the webway is irrelevant in the Eldar chasing them, in fact it probably makes it even worse since the webway has set and defined entry and exits making it easy for the Eldar to hunt them down if they use the Webway. Remember by that point the eldar where in their apex and the Necrons severely weakened, they simply couldn't beat the Eldar in a fight and if they just ran the Eldar would follow, so they had to hide in the hopes that the Eldar wouldn't find them. And again the Eldar being Eldar they had to take extreme measures to do this, hence the sleep. That final move was a gamble, but it was a calculated gamble seen as the best possible solution given that there where so few others. And the Silent King made many mistakes, but they weren't a result of simple stupidity.
I have a theory regarding the enslavers: they are both physical and warpy at the same time, perhaps they where creatures that the Old Ones where working on perhaps in the warp or perhaps being transported but something happened and they escaped into the warp and was twisted and corrupted by the growing toxicity of the warp and as it grew more toxic during the war they eventually became powerful enough and got out and started wrecking shit as mentioned in the video
If the warp was in some way actually alive, maybe the enslavers acted like an antibody system? Cleaning up the war, trying to prevent such severe effects to it. The kind existing after the conflict being something of the same, however less organized. Maybe wear and tear has weakened the proverbial immune system they work for?
Made me think that maybe the Tyranids were the old ones weapon against the enslavers, as they cast a shadow in the warp and do could be immune to them (along with being a massive hive mind probably doesn't hurt either) and by killing all other life they would prevent the enslavers from feeding and being able to reproduce. Then the old ones could come along and take all the genetic material from the Tyranids to repopulate the galaxy once the enslavers are all dead. Just a random thought I had while listening to this for umpteenth time.
Finally found this video! Arch probably won't see this but, doesn't the new Enslavers MO sound like a kind of psychic Genestealer? Perhaps the Enslavers were a warp-based variant of the Tyranids, sounds like something the Old Ones would make.
The new Necron codex seems to rewrite quite a lot of this. Basics are that Necrontyr waged a war against the Old Ones because they desired their secret to immortality. Unable to win this war, they accepted a bargain from the star gods C'Tan that they would give their flesh bodies up for immortal bodies of metal and in exchange agreed to fight for the C'Tan to defeat the Old Ones. They were victorious over the Old Ones only to realize that the C'Tan had tricked them. They then waged war against the C'Tan who were weakened from the great was with the Old Ones. The Necrons killed them too, enslaving the shards of their old forms. Now weakened by two massive wars they went into their 60 million year slumber. I'm no expert on 40K, I just thought I'd thrown this in
The way this is described makes me think that the C'tan was the reason for the harmful radiation coming off of the Necrontyr's sun, which would be somewhat convenient I suppose.
A weird thought, the C'tan are in essence, living Dyson Spheres. So the energy from entire life spans of thousands of stars all contained in one form, goes a long way to explaining being able to destroy entire Star systems with little effort and even the Old Ones. Also I think the Enslavers are the Universes correction mechanism, they wipe all life from the galaxy? In other words attempting to reset the Balance of the Warp and Materium. So really they should be called Galactic Formatters, they wipe the drive clean, then later the natural order can reboot the system, shame about the Necrons and C'tan not being close to being "Living creatures" since them and the Old Ones were the reason shit got so messed up inb the first place.
few questions here...werent the necrons at war with oldies before they met the ctan? werent the ctans suck life energy instead of solar energy when they got their physical bodies?
I kinda thought the emperor created the Tyranids, probably as a unifying enemy after the galaxy was conquered - and then the Horus Heresy messed with his planned timeline.
Arch, mordheim's RNG hellhole has completely fded me over. I was 1 mission ahead of you, also with lvl 7 leader , heros from 4-7 and very experienced normal dudes. On a "Normal" wyrdstone rush where I started in I building I was completely surrounded from turn 1. They killed 2 heros, the sorcerer and the globadier (dead after mission) and my leader and the other hero died as well (permanent affliction -10% hit chance) So I just disbanded the damn thing.
I wonder if the tau were created to take on the enslavers, with there near zero presence in the warp and absence of psychers, would they be suseptible to the enslavers controll?
Arch, you made an interesting point about Tyranids being creations of the Old Ones but Tyranid codex from 5th edition mentions that parts of Hive Fleet Behemoth went out of their way to steer clear of Necron tomb worlds (and as a result went into hibernation because no food to omnom). Has this lore been retconned in the newer codexes or is it still relevant? There are really not that many instances of Necrons fighting Tyranids in the fluff
What if the old ones are actually the hive minds deep inside the swarm of tyranids. That would be even a bit possible because it would explain why the tyranids exactly reacted to this specific beacon. And since the old ones got their asses kicked really hard by the enslavers the made a decision to prevent a disaster like that again and that was to whipe out everything to make sure the enslavers will never come back.... I am pretty sure I am wrong but yeah it was just a thought
Could the enslavers be an early version of the Tyranids? There are some theories that the Tyranids were made by the Old Ones, could the Enslavers be the Old Ones' earlier version of scouring the galaxy in order to start over?
Will you be doing lore on all the races before going into more specific lore details for sub-organizations within each race for example each guard regiment?
+Arch Watchmaker I've got a 4 theory for you the necrons and there overlord went into hiding seeing the enslavers coming the old ones thought they'd won so they celebrated causing a massive wave in the warp causing huge amount of enslavers come from the warp destroying the old ones eventually some of the enslavers evolved into tirinids then they spread across the universe when the light across the warp came the tirinids thought it was the old ones so once again they could slaughter them.
Could it be that the Emperor of Man might in truth be an orphaned Old One who assumed a manlike avatar? It would certainly explain his godlike powers, intellect and longevity.
Hmmmm, could the enslavers of turned on each other and started devouring each other till a few were left, then went in to hibernation? Perhapse creating lesser ones to feed them till the galaxy was bountiful again?
I haven't been following the new releases since 5th ed, so quick question to those of you in the know. Are those Necrons on the left there with the sword and shields available as models. They look awesome, I would love to get some.
@arch Love your lore videos. They are well edited/prepared (no "blabla" padding) and more entertaining than lore videos by others (although they are good as well). I think your voice modulation and the quips liven things up quite well (e.g. comments on Tau :D). I'm also very impressed by your excellent English, considering you're a Norwegian. I'm absolutely looking forward to more 40k lore (and would love to see a video of you talking about the flaws of the Age of Sigmar reboot and Fantasy end times in detail) Two thumbs from Austria, a kindred land of freezing. :)
Could someone please help me, this Channel is about some Norwegian guy talking about imaginary Universes for hours and it is really nothing more then wasted time. Now could someone please explain to me why I love this Channel so much?
it looks more like that the elnsavers started to fight between themselves for the food supply and separated on the way of it into two forms of war - the war for souls, which in turn what created Chaos Gods, which devourred all their opposing demons and the war for biological matter - which in turn what created tyrranids menace. Somehow these two branches of the same origin had part ways to do essentially the same thing in the matterium and in the immaterium. While the materium war clncluded into creation of collective mind, the war in immaterium concluded into cold war of individuals and those induviduals more or less feared their own fellow tyrranid brethen (who kept their psyonic powers and could devour demons by sheer numbers of troops) so the strong division between materium and immaterium was created (or maybe it was only Tzeench who created it, while two other retards were fighting between themselves)...
They may simply knew about the tyranids and that is why they simply didn't run away. The beacon may have been built to summon them as a weapon they themselves didn't build.
Could you do a video on the void dragon because it has very sketchy fluff some say it is a c'tan and others say its the bringer of the end times can you please elaborate
My Personal theory on the Enslavers is perhaps that they DID more or less nearly starve themselves out in the old days, but evolution being what it is saw a few perhaps smaller less potent ones survive by hiding and cultivating things to feed on, this "new strain" outlived the more ferocious strain and has since become dominant, this new strain after encounters with the warhammer universe learned how to better protect and grow their livestock by utilizing their weapons and other tech which in turn allows them to grow and prosper and spread....just a thought
Necrons are so hardcore they play Pokemon with gods.
by that logic, Pokemon Trainers are so Hardcore they play Pokemon with Gods and Primordial Forces of Nature
Ever play Pokéthulhu?
God shard pokeballs!!!
@David Salt Gods of 1 planet and primordial forces of 1 planet, not ones capable of devouring stars.
Also known as playing pokemon
There is another version of ending War in the Heavens.
C'tan and Necron were basically 99% winning when that one C'tan known as Deceiver (back then he was called "the Messenger" - Sauron reference anyone) working with his good buddy Ceagorah, convinced other C'tan, mainly Nightbringer, Outsider, Void Dragon and few other lesser ones, that Galaxy, now devoid of life would be hard to live in, and so they should turn towards their lesser brothers (minor C'tan) and well, eat them.
In order to consolidate their powers and secure food supply for those that would win the war.
And so suddenly C'Tan begun to eat each other.
War effectively stopped for some time as C'tan were tearing each other apart, this sudden stop of weird shit happening in the Warp, just after it was flooded in violent shit for so long created the first "nopes" of the warp. Proto-Deamons, Enslavers and Psychneuein begun flooding into real realm through all warp-dependant species.
Now this was the first time something like this happened, no one really knew how, why and how to stop that. And so with super powerful psykers in the Old Ones, and Eldar being the dominant species in the galaxy thay had a field day. Especially the enslavers. They either exterminated the Old Ones, or forced them to nope out of our galaxy forever, decimated Eldar, and basically scoured galaxy of life in a speed that Necron never could.
Now being a host dependant species, they over stretched their population. Without new Eldar (reminders basically hid, and stopped using psychic powers completely) or Old ones to host them, all the Enslavers in materium starved to death.
Meanwhile C'Tan were finishing their civil war, Outsider (being one of the few big ones) concluded that this was a huge mistake, wend mad, and closed himself in a Dyson sphere somewhere in the far reaches of the Galaxy. Void Dragon (another big player) just noped out of the agreement and went travelling. And so with number of the C'tan so diminished some Necron were lifted of the control the C'Tan had over them.
Szarekh, being ashamed of selling their people to the Star gods, and not wanting the war to continue, seeing this chance went full freedom and using unknown weapon that shattered reality itself shattered the Remaining C'tan in to shards (pokemon balls). Surviving C'tan were no real danger, Void Dragon would wander the galaxy until he met Emprah who then punched him into Mars where he bound him, Outside is still moping somewhere and Deceiver ... well he either let some of his essence to be split and used by the Necron or he got really caught and them slowly somehow got out. We know he got out because in may books he is still searing shit up around the galaxy. He controls at least part of Administratorum, Gave Failbaddon an awesome deamon stick that made him harder to assassinate and betray, while making him easier for Deceiver to control, It was even hinted he started the Gothic war by telling Abby about the Blackstone Fortress while disguised as a crone.
Anyway Old Ones are out of the picture, Eldar are decimated, and Necron gained back control over themselves but also expended themselves do they went to sleep.
In the end Eldar are the only ones left and they cope with losing both their parents and their bullies by having a massive orgy. After all the galaxy will not repopulate itself.
Basicalllly the Eldar God of Memes tricked the Deceiver to eat his brethern and then laughted from a far.
NegaBot aaaaraasa
NegaBot wta
NegaBot yA yasAAT
Hangabout... the deceiver runs the Administratum?
So, the Old Ones conquer the entire galaxy but get fucked by Gods and die. Then the Eldar conquer the entire galaxy, but then they fuck until they create a God, and die. Then humans conquer the entire galaxy but get raped by robots and sent back to the Stone Age. Then humanity comes back again but before they finish conquering the galaxy they get fucked by a God that convinces half their army to turn and rape them. I sense a recurring theme.
Aye, there does seem to be a definitive pattern here.
oh shit there is a pattern huh.
Don't fuck with Gods?
That humans are not so easy to fuck up like the old ones and eldar?
All I'm getting from that is that humans are too stubborn to just die off like the previous two empires. Chaos wiped out the old ones without an issue. Chaos nearly wiped out the eldar and even after millenia they're still doing the equivalent of crying in the shower after Slanesh molested their souls. Humanity didn't even bother waiting for chaos, we fucked ourselves with robots, recovered, THEN got fucked by chaos, recovered again and now chaos is trying to fuck us again, but can't seem to manage it no matter how hard it tries. And that's considering the imperium is technologically and culturally crippled. "Paralyzed from the nose down" levels of crippled. If the big E were to come back and get it up and running again, pretty much everyone in the galaxy, god or otherwise, would be fucked instead. Except maybe the orks, who'd be having a blast.
15:00 Another interpretation I have about the tyranids, taken in part from the Imperial Fists book, _Space Marine_, and added to what you proposed, is that the old ones may have seeded them as a sort of fail-safe. In that book a tyranid attempts to communicate with the Marines, being a first contact situation, and it describes their mission as something good and necessary, which the humans should be overjoyed to see -- to assimilate psychically attuned races, to destroy and calm the daemonic forces who prey upon them from the warp, and thereby turn the warp back into a less chaotic state -- because, as it's been described to me, when the old ones inhabited it the warp had been rather tranquil, like a paradise pre- "war in heaven" era.
This is from the school of lore I'd subscribe to, at least. Maybe, though it's just a thought, the tyranid's "usefulness" is to be something like a cleanup crew in the event of catastrophic failure, deaths, and/or loss of the war, that beacon being the signal to then allow the galaxy to start over from scratch; or perhaps even let any rare, surviving old ones return to their previous way of existence. Could be? If indeed that's how they originally came about, as more than just a random, outside force of nature?
given the way the nids collect and store biomass/dna they could in theory also be used to reseed any races they absorbed basically wipe the slate clean and start over with a fresh batch birthed from the hive fleets
@@Sarindanvelor I really like that theory.
“Oh, I should be happy to be melted by bio acid, eaten alive by microscopic beetles, perhaps even get my spinal cord torn out by razor sharp teeth??? You and I have a different interpretation of good things, bug boy!”
I never like that way of thinking, it just assumes that everyone is on the same page, which is just ignorant to think by anything.
@@omegawilliam95s36 This theory Just again shows the old ones are a stupid Race.
Another one to throw on the pile of „civilization that would realistically never make it“
I like the theory of them having more of a purpose and not just being the bugs that may have conquered every other galaxy and now are about to finish off life in ours.
15:20 I also like the idea of the Tyranids being a left-over Old One weapon, but what I've read (mainly on 1d4Chan, which uses citations) is that the Tyranids tend to avoid Necron tomb-worlds, even as-yet-undiscovered ones, and the Astronomican is what's drawing the Hive Mind's attention to the Milky Way.
27:05 "They travel through unkown MEMES".
Oh god. Now I picture the Ordos Xenos studying a xenos species by researching their MEMES to understand their culture and society.
Do you think there are memes in the 41M?
Evolution easily explains the change in the Enslavers modus operandi and power level. The initial Enslavers were able to reproduce at a staggering rate, but that, in turn wiped out their food supply, leading to a widespread extinction. This would have potentially left a small number of significantly less powerful, more calculating beings that that have much more long term viability since they do not wipe out their own food source.
In my mind, I imagine that the Old Ones as a civilization were wiped out, but perhaps there a few solitary survivors
+Marc D. Some argue that the slann's are the devolved remnants of the old ones.
That would require fantasy to exist in 40k, and that's fucking dumb.
+Marc D. It's entirely possible fantasy takes place on one planet in 40k but I'd agree that'd be dumb
+Gianni Carrea The Slanns were created by the Old Ones, together with a few other races, to fight the Necrons.
Oh, I could have sworn the Slann were a part of the Lizardmen.
I think I am falling in love with 40k
Trust me it just gets better and better
I can hardly blame you. The deeper you go, the more intricacy you find, the better it gets.
Wait for the Necrons, they are the best.
I really want to see a Warhammer 40k first person shooter where you play as the Tau empire and your character selection is a Tau firewarrior, a Kroot carnivore, a Vespid scientist, and another character. (im open to suggestions) It would play like Halo complete with optional vehicles only you have a weapon wheel. Each of the characters has his or her own reasons for fighting. The Tau firewarrior he fights for the greater good, the Kroot carnivore he’s out for revenge on an Imperial inquisitor, and the Vespid scientist she is motivated by her desire to study the enemy.
Thank you arch, every time I want to go and learn more about 40k lore by myself you drop a bomb like this on me and put me back in my place where I am like "you know just let the experts who been doing it for years now do the work your just going to get lost and hurt."
There's also a theory that the Tyranids were created by a C'Tan called the Outsider as a finally "screw you" to the galaxy. However I prefer the idea that the Old Ones created the Tyranids as a sort of cleansing agent, clearing the galaxy to render it fit for a renewed era of peaceful seeding by the surviving Old Ones...just like old times :)
+Lee Jenkins The problem I find with this theory is the fact that if the old ones did indeed create them, then why are they avoiding the Necrons? i would imagine the old ones would have made them at least willing to combat there ancient enemy.
+DoomDummy yes, that's my biggest issue with it too. If you're principle nemesis is made of living metal with no psychic imprint, then why create something which is attracted to psychic footprints and only wants organic matter?!
+DoomDummy I can come up with two reasons: First both the C'Tan and Necrons have an interest in sentient species, former as food, latter as potential new organic bodies. So ridding the whole galaxy of life, without waking them is quite the finger i guess. Imagine: the majority of the Necrons finally wakes up, tons are beyond repair, decay has become a real threat and all thats left in the galaxy are rocks. Not just planets rid of sentient life as probably after the War in Heaven, this time around there is nothing left. Can the Necrons take another sleep like that? One even longer than that? And the Old Ones are known to take their time, so the time needed doesnt appear as ridiculous as it normally would.
As for the second reason: If you are going to eat everything in the galaxy and destroy a enemy you cant eat in what order will you go about it? By eating the Tyranids dont just grow in number, they also gain genetical information, considering the Old Ones engineered races to fight the Necrons, wouldnt it be a good idea to gather any gene info that might have survived all that time? Also whatever happened to the races mutation wise might prove useful too. To me this comes down to the question what is the better choice: Facing the mostly dormant Necrons with a weaker force while facing other threats, or taking the risk of the Necrons awakening to an uncertain degree and taking them on while your forces are at their strongest concerning numbers and gene info without facing other threats. I would go for the latter, but thats maybe just me.
So, yeah thats what i can come up with right now^^
+Leeroy Johnson Those are some good points. However, if my memory serves me correct, the Necrons went to sleep AFTER breaking the old ones. The old ones really had no way to predict that the Necrons would turn on the C'tan, then go to sleep. So i do not think they would have had the foresight to develop a species to come and wipe the life out 60 million years later when the Necrons were sleeping.
Memory serves you right, although it was never mentioned that ALL Old Ones were dead, so maybe a little revenge from pissed survivors? Although i have to admit that this is grasping at straws,
On the other hand the Tyranids might have not travelled between galaxys, but were a weapon deemed to radical to use by the Old Ones, thus "stored" outside the Galaxy.
Basically its more likely Old Ones and Tyranids have no connection, they just happen to have all traits it would take to restore the galaxy into a Old One friendly habitat.
I love it. Right to the point, no tangents or preamble, just clear and concise. Well done.
Personal head cannon: There was an old one enclave in another galaxy doing their thing until word of the War in Heaven reaches them. They had shifted in their ethics for some reason and created the Tyranids as a counter against the necron. They added an incredibly important instinct (like a salmon’s instinct to swim back to the same place it was born in) that would trigger when a certain trigger was activated (This trigger being the overloading of the old one’s device) swarm on its location.
I think the term "cold blooded wisdom" could mean that they were somewhat beyond the emotions of most races/species, making decisions based on what's good for a species instead of individual needs. I personally imagine that the Old Ones were also beyond standard mortal bodies and could adopt just about any form to communicate with the younger races.
it is an oddly literal interpretation of that line, especially considering the more metaphorical abstractions that Arch usually makes.
iirc there ARE actual sources that refer to them as reptilian though
I think Arch may be correlating the 40k/pre 40k Old Ones with the Warhammer FB "Cold Ones" (Lizardmen) also said to be the 1st children of the Old Ones.
As the first they were likely made in their own image
@Arch Warhammer; Google torture devices? As if my search history could look any better.
I imagine that the Imperium's response to finding an Enslaver plague taking over a planet, will be to drop the exterminatus on that planet unless the planet is too valuable to be blasted from orbit. Seems to be their favourite way of dealing with these sorts of things.
I once read somewhere that the Old ones where not one single race but more a collection of serveral civilations.
Theory: The Tyranids are an evolution of the Enslavers.
This would explain a lot about their abundance, their unique psychic abilities (Shadow in the warp and Synapse) and their pull towards signs of intelligent life in order to absorb all life on the planets they encounter, particularly in their pull towards signs of the Old Ones.
Edit: With no more intelligent life to consume within a large radius and the population of Enslavers reaching critical mass, its not too much of a leap to assume that a lot of them would have turned on eachother forcing a huge evolutionary pressure that lead to an organism that consumes all that it comes into contact with. We also know that some hive fleets compete for resources like any other organism, to some extent, even with eachother and the "Shadow in the Warp" would have provided a huge advantage to the newly evolved Tyranids against their Enslaver brethren.
The reason Enslavers and Tyranids were very rare in our galaxy until recently would be that having consumed all life the Enslavers would have migrated out to new pastures and the few that remained would have been defective, wandering individuals with no guiding purpose.
"and some were simply too stupid and stubborn to die" you've convinced me to start getting orks, Arch, I found that line fucking hilarious :)
I always like the lore hints that the tyranid's are fleeing from something.
"Avatar" is the word you kept looking for. ;)
Thank you for making these videos I find Warhammer 40k lore fascinating and I love learning more about it
Wow actually didn't know any lore about the enslaves before this. Agree with your gushing over 40k, its so rich its just incredible.
I think when it says the Tyranids found when they were looking for, I think it means food. While they were wandering through the empty wastes between galaxies, a few hive-fleets starved to death and died. Therefore I think it's safe to assume that the remaining hive-fleets were desperate and starving. One of the main theories behind the Tyranids is that either they completely devoured all the biomass where they originally came from, or something even more terrifying forced them to flee to somewhere else.
Necroooonnss! I've been waiting for this one. Excellent work Arch.
Hey there from South Africa!!!!
Been enjoying your lore vidz and your call of warhammer let's plays was fun to watch. Keep it up!!!
14:11 if the tyranids were created by the old ones in another galaxy then it'd have to be andromeda galaxy - being the one we're on a collision course for. But they would have probably been made for their great war, as the spanning of 40k+ years isn't anywhere near enough to travel (even at light speed) between the two. Even if they did travel through the warp, would that mean that chaos exists in other galaxies? and why would they then worry about the emperor being able to wipe them out, as the universe is F'ing huge... (Edit: unless they were hovering around the band of dark matter around our galaxy in a dormant state?)
I haven't heard most of these interpretations before. It was a nice change of pace from what seems to be the standard story that most people use
Love these videos, the lore of GW WH/WH40k is always a joy to listen to arch. Keep them coming!
I remember the old short stories about the Necrontyr describing them as going into hibernation due to a "infestation", which we now know as the Enslaver Plagues, rather than defeat at the hands of the Old Ones. Then again, that was before they got turned into Tomb Kings in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
As for the whole "slow and cold intelligence" bit, I thought the statement was more figurative than literal, as beings above trite concepts like time and empathy. From the WFRP lore, their minds were proof against the blandishments of the Warp, which is feeling made manifest, so I figure their minds were simply that alien.
It's nice to see that something was done with the Enslavers. Were one of many creatures/entities that first appeared in Rouge Trader that than faded into the ether, never to be mentioned again.
Dude, awesome video. Also, I have to mention, its relieving to see a video that doesn't go into the crazy notion that the Old Ones created Humans (The Enslaver Plague happened 60 MYA, so "humans" were still rodents which spawned almost ALL mammals on Earth).
You have come a long way in your narration :D
Just wanted to praise your storytelling. I'm drawn to the rich setting of WH4K and your lore videos are great! Regards.
K, as a huge science fantasy fan - knowing tons about the star wars and shadow run universes -, and a newcomer in regards to 40k, i gotta say: the thing that flashes me the most about 4k is the sheer size and logical detail that went into everything. Holy shit. Well...... and also this absolutely rational part of the lore speaks to the well developed sociopath inside of me.
One of the few things that'd ever get me proper back into 40k is GW releasing an Old One's Army.
This is the lore I remember; The Old ones had an empire that covered the galaxy. The Necrontyr were jealous of their long life, and begged the old ones to help them with their short lives. The Old ones refused, and the Necrontry started, and lost, a war against them, and were pushed back to their homeworld. They found the C'tan, and in exchange for the power the C'tan gave them, living metal bodies, they were enslaved.
The C'tan and the Necons started a new war with the Old ones and won the war. They were only beaten back by the enslaver plague. The Old ones were virtually annihilated and the Necrons went into hibernation to wait out the plague.
The lore has probably been changed, but this much?
+Chris Edwards You are right. I don't know where Arch is getting this. Although the lore you speak of is actually outdated. Now, it goes that the Necrons then revolted against the C'tan, smashed them into millions of shards, and then went into hibernation due to the absolute destruction both the war in heaven, the enslavers, and the revolt.
Cool video Arch! i just read a thousand sons and i thought that the psychneuein were the epitome of shit your pants scary, until i learned of the slavers... it really is satisfiyng when various pieces of warhammer 40k come together.
Maybe the old ones had the tyranids as a fail safe if they lost, like a way for killing the c’tan if the old ones were wiped out
the WAAAAAAGH is coming?
GIVE ME ALL THE DAKKA!
Slougun Restrictions only 3 dakka? you bring shame to orkish kind
Slougun Restrictions den you beat their eads in till you et the blitz back
DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA
Kees de Groot dis is du type of dakka i wants, you mights do well but be carefuls because i will beat you if you try me
+Jerec 12 Silence Xenos
What about tts version where the Krorks+Eldar+other races were actually beating the Necrontyr/C'tan + the Deceiver started a civil war amongst the C'tan leading to the Necrontyr+remaining C'tan going into hiding while the Krorks and Enslavers finished off the remaining Old Ones?
The Tyranids could be the olds ultimate sanction.If they lost the war in heaven the last old one would call the Tyranids with the beacon, to ensure the Ctan and any of there servants got wiped out . Basically a galaxy reset button.
The Tyranids seem more inclined towards being designed to fight the Enslavers. Synapse creatures and the shadow in the warp seem specifically designed to counter psychic ability that can dominate other beings. High biological adaptability ensures that slave armies of various kinds can be dealt with, bonus for all those poisons, venoms, toxins, acids, etc to kill off the physical form of the slaver.
If as implied the Necrontyr were largely losing the war, doesn't seem likely the Old Ones would leave the galaxy and purge it. The Slavers make a perfect threat for the Tyranids to counter.
Maybe the enslavers are still just as crazy, but the instability in the warp is disrupting their ability to detect life and control beings.
Enslaver infestation tactics seems suspiciously similar to the Tyranid one... So either the two species are related or the good old tentacle dinosaurs gobbled a few enslavers back in the day on top of apparently being immune their influence
i have a theory concerning that the oldones may still be around. remember how they cultivated races like plants? and how they are insanely advanced? also they manipulated dimensions like the warp. now let us remember how the tau came to be:
-a warpstorm engulfed ther world and shrouded what happened on it in mysterie
-etherials appear and unify the tau race
-the tau find unity in their ideals of a greater good for all beeings
-the tau develope highly advanced machines at the insane speed of beeing cavemen one moment and beeing a starspanning empire only 10000 years later. (advancing THAT quickly can't be normal)
this sounds to me like maybe the oldones came back and are trying to do some good while staying hidden. (i know how tau are not "pure good" but lets face it: if anyone can/want to bring peace it is them)
The old necron army book I have stated that the necrons declared war on the old ones because they were jealous of them for living so long. At first they were winning but then the old ones got the upper hand and started kicking the necrontyr around. At this point the necrontyr discovered and contacted the C'tan, enlisting them to help fight the old ones. Which they did, at a price. the price being that the necrons would transfer their intelligences to robotic bodies rendering them immortal (something the necrons wanted) and giving up thier bioenergy or life energy to the C'tan (who were hungry and devoloped a taste for it).
The necrontyr made giant metal vessels with the same energy signature as a sun to draw the c'tan in and trap them, because despite hating their sun they needed it.
Maybe the Tyranids are the Old Ones just pushing delete all, to start over, haha!
+holsson85 Eh...you may have a point...
Well that is 1 theory
Or they're to the Old Ones as the Flood are to the Precursors...
The old one's way to troll the world
That would just be Halo lore
I think the chaos warp wasn't too active due to the small number of intelligent lifeforms. Chaotic entities require the mental energies of living things, and during this time, there were not that many living things.
However, with the deaths of old ones and the c'tun, chaotic entities grew off of these violent deaths, especially the c'tun's deaths. I theorize that the enslavers behaved in a manner similar to the c'tun, because the enslavers grew from the dead and living c'tuns' desires. So, I theorize the enslavers to be dead as, the entities that know about them are too few, and the c'tun are a dead race, thus sustaining their existance is impossible.
There is creatures similar to the enslaver call space devoreurs in the star wars universe, they are exteguinsh now (or maybe not, somewhere in the cold darkness of the unknow Regions....) They use to board ship enslave the population, and then...
Great lore video, love your work!
Maybe the Enslavers are the reflection of the Old Ones in the Warp. Things from the Warp that appear in the material world are something like an echo, they aren't exactly the same as their original and are appearing with a delay. Both the Old Ones and the Enslavers control populations but in different ways. Now that the Old Ones are gone and diminished in power, the Enslavers, being their reflection have also diminished in power.
If the old ones created the nightmare fuel bugs then it must have been more than a bloodbath
I thought the necrontyr and the old ones where at war before the necrontyr fount the ctan, and that they only made a deal with it as a last resort as they where getting their asses kicked by the old ones
In the new Necron Fluff, the Enslaver plague doesn't appear. The Silent King just kinda ordered them that it was time for to go to bed.
The silent King is a enormous idiot, in my point of view, equal to Abbadon.
Problem: My own race is fighting itself and I'm losing control.
Solution: Attack an incredible powerful and functionally immortal race.
Problem: My race is quickly going extinct because were fighting an incredible powerful and functionally immortal race.
Solution: Transform my entire race into robots at the mercy of alien gods and under my absolute control.
Problem: My race has it's life energy eaten by alien gods.
Solution: Attack the gods, divide them into pieces and keep them as weapons.
Problem, My enemies are defeated, my race is broken but functional and I have basically control over them, and through them the galaxy.
Solution. Give all of my race still able to somewhat think freedom from my absolute control. But not before telling them to go to sleep for billions of years and then abandoning them while I travel into the void.
Or, if the Enslaver plague happened
Problem: My enemies have opened the gates of hell and all biological minds in the universe are in danger of being eaten.
Solution: Dig in my race in for billions of years and abandon them while I travel into the void.
+Ruben Plooster The first three solutions there don't seem particularly stupid ones top the problems proposed, not to mention you are leaving out a lot of important context there. The solution for the civil war seemed more driven by pride and circumstance than simple stupidity. I mean how exactly is pledging the allegiance of your entire race to a bunch of immortal and nearly all powerful gods a bad idea when your race is facing extinction through war anyway. How exactly is shattering and enslaving the race of alien gods that ate your races life energy and souls a stupid move?
And the Necrons going to sleep was done because they weren't just extremely weakened by war, but because they where still on the loosing end of conflicts with the old ones creations, particularly the Eldar. Heck in the old fluff the Ctan did the exact same thing with the old ones so why is the idea of a war weary and nearly broken race of Necrons doing it dumb?
Declan Ellery The solution for the civil war wasn't as much to save the Necrontyr race but to keep the Triarch in power. And it wasn't the war in itself that's stupid, it was the target.
And it wasn't so much that there was an alliance between the C'tan and the Necrontyr, rather enslavement for the vast majority of the Necrontyr by the C'tan.
Attacking the alien gods wasn't a terrible idea, and keeping them around as slave themselves might seem like a good idea, if slaves never revolted.
Retreating and rebuilding are quite valid plans for a losing force, that's still made up of respawning robots, is a far better idea than burying your entire race for untold billions of years leaving it to pure chance if any indeed awaken.
And of course leaving your race dormant and defenseless to go muck around in the void isn't what I call clever.
The Silent King is a perfect example of hubris, believing his race can only survive through his guidance but fumbles at key points.
Ruben Plooster In regards of targets, there wasn't really any other target available as far as we know, the nectrotyr and the old ones where the most powerful races around at the time. Not to mention the Necrotyr probably thought they actually could take on the Old ones, hubris is a factor here though it was likely a race thing rather than a Silent King thing.
The Silent King didn't know they where going to be enslaved, he thought it would be an alliance, in fact that difference between what he believed and what actually happened was pretty crucial in the decision to revolt.
They can't actually destroy the C'tan, they lack the means to do so, they can only shatter them into weaker, easier to manage but still very powerful shards. They usually just imprison C'tan but since the shards are so powerful they can be a very potent weapons hence the reason they sometimes take them out of their prisons and use them as slaves in combat, imprisoning is the primary goal here, enslaving isn't all that common. There's also likely a revenge factor in making the C'tan slaves, the whole you enslaved us so now we enslave you.
Also simple retreating to a distance wasn't an option against the Eldar, they would simply hunt them down if they just retreated, they had webway travel after all so hiding was necessary. And given the Eldar's technology, very extraordinary measures had to be taken to hide the Necrons from the Eldar, hence the slumber.
Now hubris was definitely a big factor in a few of these decisions, but there is a good deal of logic behind most of his decisions, its not just blind arrogance.
+Declan Ellery The war's only goal was to keep the Triarch and the Silent King in power. A strong social revolt or unifying ideology might have serve better for the empire. And if you strike an enemy while not certain of their power, you are indeed a fool in my eyes.
The Silent King didn't know they were being enslaved by the C'tan, sure.. He knew that he would have the master control program that made him the absolute authority over the newly minted Necrons. He knew his entire race was about to be enslaved, he just thought it was enslaved to him.
Yes, the means to destroy a C'tan are unknown, if possible. But keeping shards of gods you shattered around and using them on the battlefield might not be a smart thing to do. I would have buried it deep within some far of exo-planets.
And not all the C'tan are shattered. There might yet be a reckoning.
The C'tan and the Necrons invaded the Webway and with it, broke the old ones and at the moment of victory the Necrons fell upon the C'tan.
Now the Necrons were greatly reduced in numbers and weakened, yes. But that doesn't explain why burying yourself for billions of years is a better idea. You still have the same spend force when you wake up, perhaps less because of unforeseen consequences. And no idea what's going on in the universe.
Perhaps not blind arrogance, no, but certainly the arrogant logic that the Silent King's way was the best.
And so I call him an idiot. For gambling his entire race in a hope for him to stay in power, not for failing.
Ruben Plooster "The war's only goal was to keep the Triarch and the Silent King in power." Except for the little detail where the civil wars where literally destroying the species, and before you go on about how a war with the old ones wouldn't do any better, I will reiterate that the Necrotyr though they could actually win the war, and the fact that civil wars tend to be more destructive than most.
The Silent King genuinely believed that he was the best leader for the Nectons, which is likely how he justified the command protocols. However my argument was never that he didn't enslave his race (though he probably didn't see it that way), but rather that he didn't think they would be enslaved by the C'tan. There is arrogance in that belief yes, but not stupidity.
The Silent King is not the one using the enslaved C'tan, pretty much as soon as they where beaten he left the rest of the Necron species. He just imprisoned them. The use of them as slaves is done by individual Necron lords and Overlords, and that's usually only in extreme circumstances, most of the shards spend their entire existence stuck in the prisons, the Necrons don't actually take them out veyr often. AN those that do are indeed probably playing with fire and being a bit stupid for the sake of arrogance or vengeance, they aren't the Silent King.
The fact that the Necrons could use the webway is irrelevant in the Eldar chasing them, in fact it probably makes it even worse since the webway has set and defined entry and exits making it easy for the Eldar to hunt them down if they use the Webway. Remember by that point the eldar where in their apex and the Necrons severely weakened, they simply couldn't beat the Eldar in a fight and if they just ran the Eldar would follow, so they had to hide in the hopes that the Eldar wouldn't find them. And again the Eldar being Eldar they had to take extreme measures to do this, hence the sleep.
That final move was a gamble, but it was a calculated gamble seen as the best possible solution given that there where so few others. And the Silent King made many mistakes, but they weren't a result of simple stupidity.
I have a theory regarding the enslavers: they are both physical and warpy at the same time, perhaps they where creatures that the Old Ones where working on perhaps in the warp or perhaps being transported but something happened and they escaped into the warp and was twisted and corrupted by the growing toxicity of the warp and as it grew more toxic during the war they eventually became powerful enough and got out and started wrecking shit as mentioned in the video
If the warp was in some way actually alive, maybe the enslavers acted like an antibody system? Cleaning up the war, trying to prevent such severe effects to it. The kind existing after the conflict being something of the same, however less organized. Maybe wear and tear has weakened the proverbial immune system they work for?
Made me think that maybe the Tyranids were the old ones weapon against the enslavers, as they cast a shadow in the warp and do could be immune to them (along with being a massive hive mind probably doesn't hurt either) and by killing all other life they would prevent the enslavers from feeding and being able to reproduce. Then the old ones could come along and take all the genetic material from the Tyranids to repopulate the galaxy once the enslavers are all dead.
Just a random thought I had while listening to this for umpteenth time.
Finally found this video! Arch probably won't see this but, doesn't the new Enslavers MO sound like a kind of psychic Genestealer? Perhaps the Enslavers were a warp-based variant of the Tyranids, sounds like something the Old Ones would make.
The new Necron codex seems to rewrite quite a lot of this. Basics are that Necrontyr waged a war against the Old Ones because they desired their secret to immortality. Unable to win this war, they accepted a bargain from the star gods C'Tan that they would give their flesh bodies up for immortal bodies of metal and in exchange agreed to fight for the C'Tan to defeat the Old Ones. They were victorious over the Old Ones only to realize that the C'Tan had tricked them. They then waged war against the C'Tan who were weakened from the great was with the Old Ones. The Necrons killed them too, enslaving the shards of their old forms. Now weakened by two massive wars they went into their 60 million year slumber.
I'm no expert on 40K, I just thought I'd thrown this in
The way this is described makes me think that the C'tan was the reason for the harmful radiation coming off of the Necrontyr's sun, which would be somewhat convenient I suppose.
Honestly I like the idea of the 'Nids being in the right place at the wrong time.
A weird thought, the C'tan are in essence, living Dyson Spheres.
So the energy from entire life spans of thousands of stars all contained in one form, goes a long way to explaining being able to destroy entire Star systems with little effort and even the Old Ones.
Also I think the Enslavers are the Universes correction mechanism, they wipe all life from the galaxy? In other words attempting to reset the Balance of the Warp and Materium.
So really they should be called Galactic Formatters, they wipe the drive clean, then later the natural order can reboot the system, shame about the Necrons and C'tan not being close to being "Living creatures" since them and the Old Ones were the reason shit got so messed up inb the first place.
few questions here...werent the necrons at war with oldies before they met the ctan? werent the ctans suck life energy instead of solar energy when they got their physical bodies?
I kinda thought the emperor created the Tyranids, probably as a unifying enemy after the galaxy was conquered - and then the Horus Heresy messed with his planned timeline.
Did the necrons/ necrontier convince the c'tan to join them after they themselves where made into machines?
Arch, mordheim's RNG hellhole has completely fded me over. I was 1 mission ahead of you, also with lvl 7 leader , heros from 4-7 and very experienced normal dudes.
On a "Normal" wyrdstone rush where I started in I building I was completely surrounded from turn 1.
They killed 2 heros, the sorcerer and the globadier (dead after mission) and my leader and the other hero died as well (permanent affliction -10% hit chance)
So I just disbanded the damn thing.
9:30 My new screensaver, Void Dragon!
I wonder if the tau were created to take on the enslavers, with there near zero presence in the warp and absence of psychers, would they be suseptible to the enslavers controll?
Could the tyranid be a counter to the enslavers since they are conected to the hive mine and by that way not easily controlled by the enslavers?
For some reason, I think that the Enslavers were defeated by the Ruinous Powers.
Can't watch this videos enough times ..... Big fan! can't wait for da ork boyz!!
Arch, you made an interesting point about Tyranids being creations of the Old Ones but Tyranid codex from 5th edition mentions that parts of Hive Fleet Behemoth went out of their way to steer clear of Necron tomb worlds (and as a result went into hibernation because no food to omnom). Has this lore been retconned in the newer codexes or is it still relevant? There are really not that many instances of Necrons fighting Tyranids in the fluff
What if the old ones are actually the hive minds deep inside the swarm of tyranids. That would be even a bit possible because it would explain why the tyranids exactly reacted to this specific beacon. And since the old ones got their asses kicked really hard by the enslavers the made a decision to prevent a disaster like that again and that was to whipe out everything to make sure the enslavers will never come back....
I am pretty sure I am wrong but yeah it was just a thought
Another great lore video.
Could the enslavers be an early version of the Tyranids? There are some theories that the Tyranids were made by the Old Ones, could the Enslavers be the Old Ones' earlier version of scouring the galaxy in order to start over?
Will you be doing lore on all the races before going into more specific lore details for sub-organizations within each race for example each guard regiment?
+QwertyBoredom122 yes that's more or less the plan
+Arch Watchmaker I've got a 4 theory for you the necrons and there overlord went into hiding seeing the enslavers coming the old ones thought they'd won so they celebrated causing a massive wave in the warp causing huge amount of enslavers come from the warp destroying the old ones eventually some of the enslavers evolved into tirinids then they spread across the universe when the light across the warp came the tirinids thought it was the old ones so once again they could slaughter them.
+Arch Warhammer
what if the enslavers that did not stay (old) turned into the tyranids?
@@draconisthewyvern3664 No they are demons
Could it be that the Emperor of Man might in truth be an orphaned Old One who assumed a manlike avatar? It would certainly explain his godlike powers, intellect and longevity.
Hmmmm, could the enslavers of turned on each other and started devouring each other till a few were left, then went in to hibernation? Perhapse creating lesser ones to feed them till the galaxy was bountiful again?
25:29 or the enslavers were genetically changed by the old ones and so over a set period of time, became the now tyranids?
Put at 1.25 for the normal speed.
+*CONOR McGLORIOUS* Thank you so much
+*CONOR McGLORIOUS* You changed my life! Thank you.
Thank you, much better! :D
lol I do it automatically when people talk in a slow manner.
Try putting it on 1.5 for half the video, then turn back to normal for the rest of the video. It's really fun!
"The Inquisition can't be everywhere" ... Heresy!
So, the Enslavers are the Flood? I'm loving 40k more and more!
I haven't been following the new releases since 5th ed, so quick question to those of you in the know. Are those Necrons on the left there with the sword and shields available as models. They look awesome, I would love to get some.
I always imagined The Old Ones as a race of Doctor Manhattans.
@arch Love your lore videos. They are well edited/prepared (no "blabla" padding) and more entertaining than lore videos by others (although they are good as well). I think your voice modulation and the quips liven things up quite well (e.g. comments on Tau :D). I'm also very impressed by your excellent English, considering you're a Norwegian. I'm absolutely looking forward to more 40k lore (and would love to see a video of you talking about the flaws of the Age of Sigmar reboot and Fantasy end times in detail) Two thumbs from Austria, a kindred land of freezing. :)
I do as the arch commands!
2:30 The old One's, sound like the ancients the builders of the stargates
Could someone please help me, this Channel is about some Norwegian guy talking about imaginary Universes for hours and it is really nothing more then wasted time. Now could someone please explain to me why I love this Channel so much?
It's the accent
+Simon Tusch cuz it's awesome a f
+Simon Tusch Truly, this can be only the fault of a tactital gen-CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED !
+Simon Tusch Well... If you want to.. no longer waste your time everything you have to do is dump your PC. It's the only way..
Norwegians have mind control powers
For arch
TYRANID LORE
TYRANID LORE
TYRANID LORE
There's not much 'Nid lore.
+King Michael I
that matters?
They eat things and make more things out of the stuff that they ate. Done
I can do the Tyrannid lore!
"One day, a swarm of bugs outside galaxy appeared and started to eat everyone. They probably will succeed eventually."
that was the best summary evar
You need to do an overall video on the Warp in general :D
it looks more like that the elnsavers started to fight between themselves for the food supply and separated on the way of it into two forms of war - the war for souls, which in turn what created Chaos Gods, which devourred all their opposing demons and the war for biological matter - which in turn what created tyrranids menace. Somehow these two branches of the same origin had part ways to do essentially the same thing in the matterium and in the immaterium. While the materium war clncluded into creation of collective mind, the war in immaterium concluded into cold war of individuals and those induviduals more or less feared their own fellow tyrranid brethen (who kept their psyonic powers and could devour demons by sheer numbers of troops) so the strong division between materium and immaterium was created (or maybe it was only Tzeench who created it, while two other retards were fighting between themselves)...
Such good times in the Warhammer universe.
This is some high level lore
the slavers could be an interesting new faction
They may simply knew about the tyranids and that is why they simply didn't run away. The beacon may have been built to summon them as a weapon they themselves didn't build.
Could you do a video on the void dragon because it has very sketchy fluff some say it is a c'tan and others say its the bringer of the end times can you please elaborate
My Personal theory on the Enslavers is perhaps that they DID more or less nearly starve themselves out in the old days, but evolution being what it is saw a few perhaps smaller less potent ones survive by hiding and cultivating things to feed on, this "new strain" outlived the more ferocious strain and has since become dominant, this new strain after encounters with the warhammer universe learned how to better protect and grow their livestock by utilizing their weapons and other tech which in turn allows them to grow and prosper and spread....just a thought