The Emperor, C'tan And The Eldar.

[Unionjack]

If I might weigh in, I personally turn most to the codex over fluff because, seeing as how the codex is the primary source of info for a given race, it is most likely to be correct IMO. Anyways, the necron codex says the necrontyr were crazy advanced scientifically. They build up some amazing society, but they had short lifespans (of course that's all relative, because the eldar... perhaps the necrontyr had a more... humanlike lifespan...). The ctan came and promised them immortality, they went along with it, but the ctan never mentioned they would lose their souls, etc. BTW the necron Immortals are described as the first to join the ctan and their favored servents.

Some speculation-perhaps the Eldar are the remnants of the Necrontyr, the ones that didn't go along with the ctan. If that's the case then perhaps there reason they are enemies it the whole, "destroy non-believers" thing, like the ctan ordered the Necron against the Eldar or whatever. Also, maybe the reason the humans have lost so much technology (assuming everyhing said before this to be true), is because this dragon guy won't help them anymore, after all he is their prisoner.

The fall would perhaps be when the Ctan came and made the necron/etc. Either 1-that's the fall of the race anyways, or 2- the remaining necrontyr went through the whole exploding sun- disaster (i think that's what it was) and that was the fall. Maybe the reason the eldar all live on craftworlds is becase they can't go onto other planets because the Necron would sense them.

[IBBoard]

The Eldar are unlikely to be the Necrontyr. I can't see many similarities: long lived race with psykers who choose paths to follow Vs a scientific race looking for immortality.

AFAIK the Void Dragon has never been known to be awake during humanities time on Mars with the Adeptus Mechanicus. I think the early Tech Adepts would have considered it heretical to take machinary etc from the Void Dragon, and the later Tech Adepts sometimes see the Machine God as an alternate incarnation (almost) of the Emperor, so they'd probably cry heresy as well for the most part.

As for the fall, that was the "fall from grace" of the Eldar. They became a more and more decadant civilisation until they accidentally brought the fourth Chaos god, Slaanesh, in to existance. They had been warned by Farseers that it would occur, but they were also arrogant and believed that they would never go far enough to cause it. Once that occurred then whole Craftworlds were consumed and lost, and the Eldar then focused on the paths of the Aspect Warriors to focus their energies and ensure that they never became as decadant again.

[jlmb_123]

Hello, new to the forums, and just adding my threepence.

Nearly all of the currently dominant creatures in the galaxy were created by the Old Ones to use for battling the C'tan. The Necrons were jealous of the Old Ones (or Slann's) freedom and longevity, whilst they were stuck carrying out miserable and short lives on a dying world. They discovered the C'tan, and chose to ally with them, seeing a chance for power through the god-like powers of the Star Gods. However, the C'tan convinced/coerced them to transfer their spirits to metal bodies, to gain immortality. Unfortunately, they also became enslaved.

Whilst the C'tan grew in power and rampaged around the Galaxy, the Old ones tried to fight them back, creating the Eldar (their main servants), the Krork (Orks), Humans and plenty of other creatures now extinct or too minor to be mentioned in the game worlds. Eventually, the C'tan were stopped by constant fighting, infighting and the lack of resources to themselves, so went into hibernation, along with the Necrons.

The Eldar Gods were the Old Ones, I believe, a 'supreme race' allied to the Eldar. Rather than being gods in the sense of the Four Powers, they were simply powerful creatures with great intellect and physical existence, whether born in the material universe or the Warp, in the same mould as the C'tan.
[sources: Codex: Necrons, Xenology and some WD article.

Also, the Emperor built the Golden Throne before/during the Heresy, as a way to maintain the Astronomican. He was apparently going to place Magnus the Red in it, being the powerful psyker he was. For some reason, it also had a gateway to the Eldar Webway, but I think that fact was just a bit of over-enthusiasm by Alan Hansen when he was liaising with the Sabretooth to write the fluff for the Heresy CCG.

[IBBoard]

Interesting story lines in there. I didn't realise that GW were still using "the Old Ones", I thought they'd been killed off after 2nd Edition. Saying that, I've never read the Necron Codex, so perhaps they've brought it back.

As for an Eldar Webway gate in the Golden Throne - hopefully that is just one of the non-GW guys getting a little over enthusiastic! I can't see the Emperor of Mankind purposefully putting a gateway for a race of self-centred xenos into the middle of his own stronghold.

[Rahvin_Dashiva]

The Old Ones were a highly advanced, supremely psychic race that lived waaayyy before anything else. They expanded into the galaxy, and along the way discovered the Necrontyr, another race of highly advanced (though not as much as the Old Ones. the Necrontyr technology was more to do with machines and realspace, where the Old Ones' was more about biology and the warp). This, naturally, sparked a war, which the Necrontyr promptly lost.After beating them, the Old Ones largely ignored them, seeing them as too small a threat to bother with.

The Necrontyr, however, set about developing and researching advanced technology to defeat the Old Ones, and along the way dicovered the C'tan. The C'tan promised the Necrontyr superiority and immortality and the Necrontyr accepted, becoming the Necrons. What they didn't realise was that transplanting their souls into their new metal bodies reduced their intelligence massively, except for the lords and, to some extent, the Immortals.

The C'tan, being immortal themselves and not liking the what the Old Ones were doing to the universe, infesting it with life and all that, declared war. The Old Ones created several warrior races to help them fight, including the Eldar (their favourites), the Krork, the Humans (but these didn't evolve in time), the Hrud, and others. Thus began the War in Heaven (as referred to by the Eldar).

There were originally many C'tan, but the Deciever convinced the three other most powerful ones that they could become stronger by consuming the weaker C'tan. This is why there are only four (the Deciever (active), the Nightbringer (active), the Void Dragon (on Mars), and the Outsider - currently locked in a dyson sphere and insane).

Big fight ensues, yadda yadda yadda, etc, etc, etc.

The C'tan eventually won the war, but the Old Ones fled / died, resulting in a massive warp flux, and ultimately the Enslaver Plague. Bye bye Old Ones. They definately went out with a bang (taking out most life in the galaxy (indirectly)). The C'tan decided to take their Necrons and go into hibernation / stasis, as there was not enough life left to satisfy their hunger, so they would return when life had reasserted itself a bit. Plus, they didn't like the Enslavers at all (warp energy is deadly to C'Tan).

The Emperor (according to some OLD fluff, but it's the only thing there is on him) was created yonks ago by a cabal of psykers on ancient Terra. They sacrificed themselves, melding into one Uber-leader. The Emperor has watched over Humanity for ages, but when he saw the mess they created with the Age of Strife, he decided to take a more direct role (lousy humans, can't even keep themselves alive... No, they say, please mister Emperor, help us. Pah! Well alright then... )

About the Golden Throne, I don't know. I presumed it was intended primarily to be a life-support device for the Emperor, not a means of maintaining the Astronomicon, but, hey, I should read more fluff on it...