Whether in 40K or Fantasy the enigmatic Old Ones are depicted as the elder race behind the creation of the majority of the races in both franchises, but despite the fact that they, you know, created most of the creatures inhabiting the universe we actually know very little about them. What their motivations were for creating the Old World, what their intentions were with their servant races, hell, even their appearance are almost a complete mystery to us. I will address the following issues that I think are perhaps the primary questions people have regarding these enigmatic beings. Firstly, their appearance, attitude, and culture. Secondly, their motivations and reasoning behind manipulating the Old World and its denizens. Please note that the majority of my reasoning and information that will support my theories come from 40K lore and Fantasy Lore, particularly from the Lizardmen book. Without further ado, let's begin.
Where the Old Ones came from is never fully addressed, but from the information available to us we do know that they came from a completely different sector of space from where the Old World is located. Ancient Lizardmen lore says that they were so advanced that for them, science and magic were one and the same, and it was they that created the Warp Gates through which their ships traversed to and from the Old World. Now, this detail in and of itself is actually one of the two biggest clues as to what they look like. Logically, if they traversed in spacecraft then they must have corporeal forms to operate said ships. Now, some people may argue that they could simply have created a race to operate said ships for them, but I also address this little detail in my theory. Why they came to the Old World is never specifically stated, but it is stated that they saw potential in the Old World. Again, the potential for what is never especially stated, but their next actions do clear things up a bit. Using their advanced technological and mystic power they physically moved the planet closer to the system's star, increasing the temperature of the planet. As a side note, it is specifically stated that there were beings living on the planet that is the Old World prior to the appearance of the Old Ones. One of these races in particular were the Dragons. That bit of information aside, the Old Ones had effectively destroyed most of the lifeforms on the planet after shifting it so dramatically. Ironic, considering that the one definitive thing that we know about the Old Ones is that they valued all life, regardless of its insignificance. However, the Old Ones did not stop there. They then began to do something they seem to enjoy the most, creating new life. First came the Slann Mage-Priests, and this is the second of the two biggest clues as to the physical appearance of the Old Ones. The Slann are in fact the only beings to have physically been in the presence of an Old One, and it was from them that the Slann learned and mastered the arts of magic. This again provides a key part to their identity. Slann do not, well, act, think, or pretty much do anything in ways that human beings can possibly understand. In fact, Slann are so much more intellectually evolved than humans that we monkeys can not even comprehend their thought processes. Even elves, considered to be the most magically gifted creatures in the Old World cannot make sense of the Jabba the Toads. All this means that Old Ones are so much, well, more than corporeal creatures can understand and as such if they were to create a race specifically to be their students and administrators of this new world, they would have to be able to physically learn from their creators. We also know that the majority of the gods that the Lizardmen worship were in fact Old Ones and they also had names, implying that the Old Ones had individual mindsets, and weren't a hive mind or a collective. However, this new planet was not the complete blank slate the Old Ones hoped it to be. There were still creatures existing on this planet that could interfere with their plan. This is where the Saurus come into the picture. As we well know, the Old Ones seem to despise ending the lives of creatures, it was easier, at least for them to justify, that it was simple survival of the fittest rather than genocide. The Saurus turned out to be perfect for this purpose and it was obvious that the Old Ones had succeeded in creating a perfect killing machine. Next came the rest of the Lizardmen species, and then other races. Elves, dwarfs, men, ogres, halflings, etc. As we all know Chaos came next and it was with their appearance that the Old Ones disappeared. Now, for all of you still awake, here is what we know as to the identity of the Old Ones; they were corporeal creatures, they had a fetish for creating new lifeforms, they hated taking the lives of others, they seemed to disappear with the appearance of Chaos.
Now we leave fact and enter theory territory hardcore with the reasons for their manipulating of the Old World. Now, this is completely theoretical, but I believe that the Old Ones used the Old World as a laboratory of sorts. Consider this, we know the Old World is NOT Terra of 40K, and thus the two planets are not connected directly. We also know that at the time of Old Ones appearance into the Old World they were still corporeal. Remember, the Old Ones and the Necrons of 40K (when they were still fleshy) went to war a looong time ago. At this time, the Old Ones had the ability and means to fight the war, but not the soldiers or the desire. In short, my theory is quite simple. We know that the Old Ones of both fantasy and 40K were the creators of most of the races in both franchises. I believe that the Old Ones used the planet that is the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy as a testing area for the races they would use to fight the Necrontyr. Observing the effectiveness of each race, and then deciding which of them they would use to combat the Necrontyr. We call them Elves, the Old Ones called them Eldar. We call them Orcs, the Old Ones called them, well, Orks? We humans proved to be the most adaptable and multi-functional race, not as fragile and fickle as the Eldar/Elves but not as savage and uncontrollable as the Orcs/Orks. The other races were much too flawed to fight effectively for the Old Ones. The Lizardmen were too robotic, too cold-blooded to be effective soldiers in a war that literally was fought across galaxies. The Dwarfs too resistant (and stubborn) to the psychic powers of the Old Ones to be effective in terms of communications and psychological enhancements. The Ogres and Halflings, well, they seemed to be incarnated in 40K in the form of Ogryns and Rattlings, but they're not the same. The former are certainly their own species while the latter are considered to be just mutations to a normal human being. Now, please remember, this is a theory and it has plenty of holes in it, such as the Orcs being the result of a seed caught in the Old Ones' ships, the God Emperor of Mankind's appearance, and the geographic similarities between Terra and the Old World are a little suspect, but honestly, this is the bet way to explain the Old Ones and why they created the Old World as it is and the not so subtle similarities between 40K and Fantasy.
