Sixty million years ago the Necron dynasties spread across the stars, an almighty civilisation dead set on conquering the galaxy. After being turned into a race of living metal constructs as part of a fell bargain with the C’tan, most lost their personalities, becoming little more than soulless automatons.
Those that retained their personalities have been awake for millennia, experiencing an existence beyond mortal ken, and their immortality has sharpened their personalities and peculiarities to a fine point, which makes them some of the most entertaining characters to read about. Their popularity has resulted in Black Library creating two new gorgeous Special Editions of The Twice-Dead King duology and The Infinite and The Divine.
First up is Nate Crowley’s The Twice-Dead King Box Set starring the disgraced Necron Lord Oltyx. A savvy Cryptek was able to divide his consciousness into five subordinate minds capable of conversing with him and each other, making him the perfect protagonist for a story of revenge, war, and more beyond.
This gorgeous limited edition collects three books together in a Necron-green slipcase. The Twice-Dead King: Ruin, The Twice-Dead King: Reign, and Severed and Other Stories which contains Severed, One Million Years, The Life of Jethras the Martyr and Patience. All three feature beautiful new covers with bronze foil blocking, ribbon bookmarks in each, and all contain introductions written by Nate Crowley as well as full-colour internal art of the original covers. The box itself is emblazoned with the author’s signature.
Second, a Special Edition of The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath which was teased late last year has finally risen from its hypercrpyt and will be available to pre-order later this year.
Presented in a special white and green cover with printed page edges that match the artwork from the standard edition, this Special Edition also contains the short story The War in the Museum and an afterword and signature from the author, as well as a green ribbon bookmark and full-colour art of the original cover within.
Starring Orikan the Diviner and Trazyn the Infinite, this is a tale of two bickering opposites entrenched in a cat-and-mouse game over a powerful relic that hints at a fundamental secret from the Necron empire’s past. Their back-and-forth shenanigans last centuries, and end up shaping the fate of an entire planet in the process – with fascinating consequences.
Both of these Special Editions will be available to pre-order later this year for fans of living metal warriors with personalities compromised by millenia of existence in the grim darkness of the far future.