Timeline of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe - Biotransference and the Rise of the Necrons: Armed with weapons of god-like power and starships that could cross the galaxy in the blink of an eye through the use of quantum phase technology, the Necrontyr stood ready to begin their war against the Old Ones anew. But the C'tan had another gift for their mortal subjects. They offered the Necrontyr a path to immortality and the physical stability their species had always craved. Their diseased flesh would be replaced with the living metal of necrodermis that made up their Star Gods' own physical forms. Their discarded organic husks would be consumed and their cold, metal forms would then be free to pursue their great vengeance against the Old Ones and the rest of a hateful universe, freed forever from the weaknesses of their hated flesh.With the pact between Necrontyr and C'tan sealed, the Star Gods revealed the form that immortality would take for the Necrontyr, and the great biotransference process began. Vast bio-foundries were constructed, and into these the Silent King's peoples marched according to the terms of the pact he had made with the C'tan. What blasphemous procedures the Necrontyr were subjected to within the raging bio-furnaces cannot be known, but certainly, each was stripped of flesh and of soul, their body replaced by a shell of living metal necrodermis much like the C'tan themselves animated by what remained of their guttering self.Above each furnace swooped and dove the ethereal true-forms of the C'tan as they glutted themselves on the spiritual and electromagnetic detritus of an entire species. It was only when the Silent King himself emerged from the biotransference process and looked upon what had become of his people that he saw the awful truth of the pact he had made. Though immortality and nigh-godlike strength and vigour were his, it had come at the cost of his soul, the aetheric remains of which had already been sucked down the gullet of a circling C'tan.As Szarekh watched the C'tan feast on the life essence of his people, he realised the terrible depth of his mistake. In many ways he felt better than he had in Necrontyr decades, the countless aches and uncertainties of organic life now behind him. His new machine body was far mightier than the frail form he had tolerated for so long, and his thoughts were swifter and clearer than they had ever been.Yet there was a terrible emptiness gnawing at his mind, an inexpressible hollowness of spirit that defied rational explanation. In that moment, he knew with cold certainty that the price of physical immortality had been the loss of his soul. With great sorrow the Silent King beheld the fate he had brought upon his people: the Necrontyr were now but a memory, and the soulless, undying Necrons had been reborn in their place.Yet if the price had been steep, biotransference had fulfilled all of the promises that the C'tan had made. Even the lowliest of the Necrontyr was now blessed with immortality -- age and hard ionising radiation could little erode their new mechanical bodies, and only the most terrible of injuries could destroy them utterly.The biotransference process had embedded engrammatic command protocols in every Necron mind, granting Szarekh the unswerving loyalty of his subjects. At first, the Silent King embraced this unanimity, for it was a welcome reprieve from the chaos and fractiousness that had consumed the Necrontyr Empire in recent years. The entire species was now his to command, and so it fell upon the Necrons to honour their side of their terrible bargain. However, as time wore on Szarekh grew weary of his burden but dared not sever the command protocols, lest his subjects turn on him seeking vengeance for the terrible curse he had visited upon them.Biotransference had left behind only the ghostly echoes of the Necrontyr's consciousnesses. Only a few of the most strong-willed Necrontyr among the nobility and the military retained their intellect and self-awareness and even they were but shadows of their former selves. They had been purged of so much of what had made them unique individuals. But unlike the Silent King, most of the Necrons at first cared not at all for their loss; all that mattered to them was that they would live forever without disease or death as their Star Gods had promised.Renewed and empowered as never before by their devouring of the souls of an entire species, the C'tan were now unstoppable, and with the undying legions of the Necrons marching in their wake, the Old Ones were doomed. Only one thing truly remained of the old Necrontyr -- their burning hatred for all the other living, intelligent species of the universe.Legions of the undying living metal warriors set out into the galaxy in their Tomb Ships and the stars burned in their wake. The Old Ones' mastery of the Warp was now countered by the C'tan's supremacy over the physical universe and the ancient enemies of the Necrons suffered greatly in the interstellar slaughter that followed.