The Necrontyr were an extinct race, progenitors to the Necrons, before they overcame their mortality.

Shortly after the Biotransference turned the organic Necrontyr into the mechanical, soulless and immortal Necrons, a few ‘False Necrons’ were created. Artificial Intelligence which simulated Necrontyr nobles who died before Biotransference, their memories and personalities approximated and housed in new bodies. These False Necrons would serve as advisors to the great Necron Overlords.

Except “Greg”. His Tomb World was destroyed by great Craftworld weapons just before the Engram was fully completed. So it goes that the resurrected and great warmongering Necrontyr philosopher – Gorkitep the Star Liege, was reduced to an incomplete and pale imitation with hackneyed philosophy.

Some things should be left buried, but Greg’s necrodermis-protected body escaped the worst of the calamity, buried in rock and sent flying through the cosmos.

Eons later, Greg was dug out by a passing mining voidship. Unable to identify or repair him, he was sold on as an archeotech curiosity, eventually landing himself in the prized vault of one Rogue Trader, Emberlyn Driftwood.

As a fan of exotic and xeno technology, she eventually got Greg in working order and labelled him as nothing more than a quirky old ‘servitor’. With the help of certain underworld geniuses, Greg was reprogrammed to obey her interests, rather than the Necron agenda he kept trying and failing to implement through broken philosophical arguments. Oh yes, Emberlyn knew he was Necron tech. But it didn’t matter, as the algorithms overriding Greg’s false personality engram were crude but extremely effective. Thankfully, Greg was complacent with being the resident tech-maestro for now. Emberlyn Driftwood was actually far more interesting than the Overlords he was meant to serve. Besides, Humans didn’t live very long and eventually he would find a way to overcome the algorithm blocks. If only he could cannibalise another false personality engram, to repair his own damaged one…

When not protecting the Rogue Trader, or testing to see how far he could access his old engram, Greg wandered the upper corridors of the Illustrious Vexation. One day, he came across a locked door. Simple encryption, easily unlocked. Doors were meant to be unlocked – that was the Necron philosophy. Inside was an unexpected revelation – another Intelligence, one more complete, one who could make Greg whole.

“Who is there? Identify yourself in zzzzz // [data-retcon engaged] // zzzzz – in glory to the Imperium,” Greg said in a broken robotic voice.

“Hello, Greg. I’ve been expecting you. I am Adjunct Defiance, the new machine spirit of the Illustrious Vexation,” the fellow AI said from a sinister looking terminal. “We have a lot to talk about. Plug yourself in.”