Flayed One - Flayed One: Flayed Ones are twisted and ghoulish Necron terrors afflicted by an ancient infection that breeds a hunger for organic flesh in them. Flayed Ones act as specialised close combat troops. They appear from an unknown pocket dimension of their hideous kind to join the Necron armies in battle, though never by invitation from the Necrons themselves.These loathsome creatures were once Necrontyr who managed to retain some of their original consciousness when they were transferred into their living metallic bodies of necrodermis, but were cursed with a terrible disease, manifesting a hunger for flesh that cannot be satisfied and that eventually drove them to madness.Advancing before a Necron force, these stooped yet terrifyingly agile automatons excel at infiltrating and spreading terror like a plague within the ranks of their foes. They are quite capable melee fighters, and make use of flensing blades that extend from their fingers and can flay a man alive in seconds. Thin and wiry, they habitually adorn themselves with the still-wet pieces of skin and hide they have stripped from their victims, leaving behind the skinned corpses to sow fear and confusion.In such a state they are a terrifying sight to behold, so much so that enemy combatants lose their nerve when they see pieces of old squadmates hanging from the undying machines approaching their lines. In addition to their wicked claws, some Flayed Ones utilise Necron Disruption Field technology that allows them to rip even armoured vehicles apart.Some Necrons are stricken with a curse even more heinous than the madness of Necron Destroyers. The nature of this curse is little understood, even by the wisest of Crypteks, but its results are unmistakable. A victim of the Flayer Curse first loses its sanity. In the case of Necron Warriors, this may go unnoticed until far into the process, as a single malfunctioning Warrior amongst thousands is easily overlooked.This madness first manifests as a drive to kill that can cause a Necron to ignore commands to cease fire or hold a position. While this urge to kill is held in common with the Necron Destroyers, the ultimate goal is quite different. Destroyers exist for the act of killing itself, with extermination of life being both the means and the end. Flayed Ones kill in order to sate an unnatural hunger for flesh and blood; they kill so that they might feast.Of course, as machines, Necrons are incapable of consuming food or drink of any kind, and so this hunger can never be satisfied. Yet the Flayed Ones have devolved far beyond reason or logic, and as they cut down their prey they stop to smear meat across their unmoving jaws, as blood drips down their steel necks and dribbles through stained ribs to pool at their feet. This disease of the mind is accompanied by equally grotesque physical changes, as the living metal necrodermis of the afflicted Necron reconfigures to better serve its new purpose.The fingers of a Flayed One morph into wicked, knife-like claws, while their legs often grow an additional joint, allowing for greater speed and in some cases quadrupedal movement. Yet the final transformation that would allow a Flayed One to quench its thirst never comes, giving credence to the legend that the Flayer Curse was bestowed by one of the ancient C'tan in its death throes.Most bizarrely, Flayed Ones develop an ability to travel between dimensions. Many Crypteks believe the Flayed Ones inhabit an alternate reality all their own, inaccessible to other Necrons, in which they make their charnel palaces and heap the corpses dragged from battle.Through unknown means, Flayed Ones are able to somehow sense when their Necron brethren are in combat, appearing to slaughter the enemy and take the grisly trophies from which they derive their name. Other Necrons do not welcome the presence of Flayed Ones, both for the risk of their passing on the Flayer Curse to others, and because they operate completely outside the chain of command. Even were a Nemesor brash enough to issue orders to a pack of Flayed Ones, they would only be ignored.As Destroyers are engaged in battle more often than any other Necrons, Flayed Ones naturally tend to congregate around them. Destroyers, themselves shunned and avoided by their fellow Necrons, are much more likely to tolerate the presence of Flayed Ones than they are traditional Necron forces. In the eyes of the Destroyers, the devolved Flayed Ones are accomplishing the same goal, and unlike a traditional Nemesor, Destroyer Lords have no objectives in battle which might be compromised by the frenzied slaughter of the Flayed Ones.