Colors of the Silent King

[Indefragable]

Hey all,

 

Do we have any information about what color schemes/patterns the Silent King uses?

 

As I've been staring at my Praetorians, I've come around to the idea of painting them quite differently from the rest of my army to show that while they work with Dynasties, their allegiance is clearly to the SK.

 

Kind of like how in Gladiator the Praetorian Guard wear purple while the Roman Army wears red.

 

So the question is...what colors for the Silent King's own?

 

 

GW would say Sautekh/"normal" Necron colors (boooooooo)

 

I like the regality and eye-popping colors of Nihilakh...but those are clearly claimed by Nihilakh.

 

In a purely theoretical manner, my mind goes towards purple and gold, since both those colors have traditionally been associated with royalty throughout many cultures. It would be cool to do more silver than gold since silver was far rarer--and thus more valuable--in ancient Egypt...but then it will get confused with metal since Necrons.

 

What are your thoughts?

[N1SB]

Hey, Brother Indefragable.

 

There's actually a description of the Silent King in the 40k primer novel, Crusade + Other Stories.  I'll just share the relevant portion here.

 

Context - this story doesn't retcon, but explains that weird Blood Angel/Necron alliance against the Tyranids, from the Blood Angel perspective.  Dante, Tycho and a sergeant, who is the narrator, meet with a court of Necrons and the Silent King.  They see something so unexpected, it explains their historical records.

 

The sergeant tries to describe the Silent King:

 

- he's taller than the rest of the Necrons by a bit, but "not as tall as I had imagined"

- doesn't look like a Necron, "whereas they were skeletal, he was lithe"

- i.e. he wasn't just a metal skeleton, "his form spoke of musculature and clean-limbed strength, perhaps touched by the divine"

- he wore "a cowl of shimmering light and the traceries of his intricate collar" a face mask

 

The next part I'll include with a spoiler tag:

 

He wore a golden mask of Sanguinius.  It was a mirror of Dante's own, except whereas the Blood Angel's was in a scowl, the Silent King's Sanguinius mask was more like a smile, a diplomatic version.

 

Brother Indefragable, I know you were just looking for a colour scheme, this is probably more info than you expected, but based on this recently canon story I actually suggest perhaps the most important thing is the appearance of the Silent King is quite different than even a Necron Lord.  I almost imagine his appearance closer to the discontinued Pariah model.  Then that mask, perhaps, with a cowl of light and some kind of cape.

 

The big idea of this story, however, was that the Blood Angels were baited to fight the Tyranids by the Necrons, but rather than admit that, they recorded the events as they had forged an alliance with the Necrons because they were so magnanimous; in short, they re-wrote history to look good.  And the Necrons had tricked them to fight the Tyranids...so was that really the Silent King or just another ruse?  However, if I were to represent the Silent King, I would srsly consider this description.

[Tyriks]

There might have been a description from Word of the Silent King. I can't remember other than the details of his face.

 

I would go heavy on the gold, probably.

[NTaW]

I always thought their box art example with gold chassis was their unique colours since the Lychguard from the same box have silver torsos. Given that you're doing Mephrit that would give them a distinct look to boot. That being said there's no worries in approximating other Dynastic colour schemes; just look at how many varieties of Space Marine Chapters there are with almost the same scheme.

[Indefragable]

<snip>

 

 

There might have been a description from Word of the Silent King. I can't remember other than the details of his face.

 

I would go heavy on the gold, probably.

 

Those are actually one in the same: the story N1SB describes is from Word of the Silent King by Laurie Golding. Great little read! I find some parts pretty fascinating.

 

Thanks for sharing, N1SB!

 

I was thinking something kinda sorta maybe like one of these, but with purple and gold:

Hidden Content

 

 

http://www.darkeyestudios.co.uk/Jay/Thokt_Necron_Triarch_Praetorians_1.1_files/ThoktNecronTriarchPraetorians101.jpg

 

 

 

This is actually a close up from the cover of that short story:

Hidden Content

 

 

 

 

...although I don't think that Lord is supposed to represent the Silent King himself.

 

It's an interesting take on the Praetorians. I was thinking flashier, shinier, more Royal Guard looking dudes...but the weathered understated look is actually pretty interesting.

 

Praetorians are supposed to report directly to Szarekh and according to the Codex, they did not slumber but rather were awake all this time, surreptitiously keeping Tomb Worlds afloat, fending off the Eldar ( the Eldar), and even masquerading as gods to primitive cultures so that scraps of Necron lore and technology would be available for the re-awakening.

 

For that reason, it's actually pretty cool to envision the Praetorians (still need a good nickname for them) as sort of Rangers of the North, battered, grungy, always-vigilant types that show up out of nowhere rather than perfumed pretty boys that hang out near the royalty in palaces.

 

Hmmmmm....

[NTaW]

They are depicted as covering themselves with trophies of war in the Shield of Baal short Devourer. The Praetorians accompanying Anrakyr have items memorializing their fight against the Tyranids with the Blood Angels attached to their bodies.

[Tyriks]

Yeah, I'm posting on my phone so N1SB's post didn't show up or I would've just agreed.