The Deceiver is, as its name implies, a tricky being to track down. It enjoys using trickery, deception and lies to get to its own ends^11e. The other C'tan quickly learned to distrust and shun the Deceiver^21e, and it's nature was shown particularly when the Deceiver tricked the [[Necrontyr]] into giving up their bodies in favour of metallic husks^31e. When the Necrontyr first encountered the Deceiver, they gave it the name Mephet'ran, the Messenger^41f and hoped it would be able to bridge the gap between Necrontyr and C'tan.

The Deceiver was the one to steer the Necrontyr towards a war with the [[Old Ones]], by using its words to instil hatred of their power and ageless wisdom. Eventually this led to the transformation of the Necrontyr to the Necrons, which in turn led to the next major incident in the history of the C'tan. One of the three possibilities says that the Deceiver was the first to set C'tan on C'tan, convincing them that each other were the "best of all feasts"^51f, but despite this the Deceiver remained one of the physically weakest C'tan and only survived by avoiding the more violent C'tan, such as the Nightbringer and Void Dragon.

The [[Eldar]] gave the Deceiver the name "the Jackal God"^61f and recorded that it helped both sides equally. It then employed a number of guises to accomplish its goals. It was the last to descend to its stasis tomb and the first to leave, and has had millennia to gather support. It has destroyed, through its subtle methods, the [[Blackstone Fortress]]es, the only weapons capable of destroying the C'tan and placing the remainders far out of reach of the Eldar. It is said that it invoked the [[Gothic War]] simply to destroy or remove the Fortresses.

The Deceiver has many entries in Codex: Necrons, including on pages 5, 8, 27, 28, 30/31, 50 and 63been quite active since his release from stasis. Below are some examlpes of this.

===Page 5 - Translation of an Eldar Artifact===This artifact tells of the signs of the return of the C'tan. It has one line dedicated to the Deceiver, "...and the Jackal-God shall turn brother against brother."^71a This confirms the abilities of the Deceiver as those of trickery and deceit and also gives a slight reference to time, as it would need a longer time to turn brother against brother than the Nightbringer would need to kill them both.

===Page 8 - Assassination attempt===This Another text mentions of the attempt by a [[Callidus Assassin]] to assassinate a [[Planetary Governor]] named Takis. She used her [[C'tan Phase Weapon|C'tan phase knife]] and attempted to kill Takis, but she failed and her weapon passed straight through him. He knocked her aside and took her weapon and absorbed it into his hand. We can then probably assume she was absorbed as the last line talks about how her polymorphine drug "gives human essence such a delicate flavouring"^81b. The fact that the being could absorb the C'tan Phase Knife meant it could only be a C'tan, as its body was made of the same material as the weapon which would have destroyed anything else. Also, we can assume that it is the Deceiver as the only other C'tan to be released from stasis was the Nightbringer, and it would not bother to hide as a governor, it would simply kill everyone around it and consume their bodies and souls. This is proof that the Deceiver is operating to attain power in the [[Imperium]].

===Page 27 - Special Characters===This gives a brief overview of the Deceiver's power of guile and cunning, and then gives a list of its names in several alien cultures:^1c

===Page 28 - The Nightbringer===This section of Codex: Necrons^1d gives a brief account of the Deceiver convincing the Nightbringer to consume the other C'tan. When read alongside [http://uk.games-workshop.com/necrons/eldar-mythology/2/ Games Workshop Website - Dawn of the C'tan, The Death of Light] this offers the possibility that the [[Eldar]] [[Harlequin]] [[Laughing God]] is in fact The Deceiver in another form - although there are also many evidences against this, as well as the possibility that both have imitated the other on numerous occasions.

===Page 30/31 - The DeceiverSilvae===These pages are dedicated The Silvae were an agrarian society with little technology. They were visited by the Deceiver early in their development and it convinced them to worship it. It returned occasionally to reinforce their devotion and they quickly became a superstitious people. There is a sentence that merits attention: "Here, it seems to be testing them, promising the history of race as a whole greatness at its side should they prove worthy."^1f. This could be seen as an attempt by the Deceiver to recruit new races and create new Necrons to bolster its forces. This may indicate a shortage of Necron units since the end of the information is covered above War in the Before the Enslavers sectionHeaven.

===Page 50 - The Silvae===This article gives us a glimpse into the cold heart of the Deceiver. The Silvae were an agrarian society with little technology. They were visited by the Deceiver early in their development and it convinced them to worship it. It returned occasionally to reinforce their devotion and they quickly became a superstitious people. There is a sentence that merits attention: "Here, it seems to be testing them, promising the race as a whole greatness at its side should they prove worthy."¹⁰. This could be seen as an attempt by the Deceiver to recruit new races and create new Necrons to bolster its forces. This may indicate a shortage of Necron units since the end of the War in Heaven. The Silvae were then introduced to the Imperium and they soon turned to violence, but the Deceiver did not show up to help them. Instead he finds them "slipping back to barbarism"^111g and is dismayed. He then sends in his Necrons to wipe out all of the Silvae. Most of them are killed but a few survive although there is insufficient variation in the DNA to continue the race.

===Page 63 - An article by Farseer Maechu of Ulthwé===This article text gives a brief prediction of the future, of how the Deceiver will blur the sight of the younger races and mankind and will make them believe they are coming home when in fact they are walking into the Necron 'soulforges'.^1g

*¹ - "The Deceiver's greatest achievements are wrought from deception and lies, its empire of fear built upon manipulation and mistrust." - [[Codex: Necrons]] P30*² - "In ages past, even when the Necrontyr were still clothed in flesh, the other C'tan leanred to shun the influence of the Deciever." - [[Codex a: Necrons]] P30p5*³ - "It was only now that the Deceiver's true face began to show as it lured the unbelievers into the clutches of the faithful with promises of mediation and compromise...Then the believers were added top the glittering ranks of unliving machines and the Necrontyr race was utterly purged..." - [[Codexb: Necrons]] P31p8*⁴ - "They first named it Mephet'ran, the Messenger..." - [[Codex c: Necrons]] P30p27*⁵ - "best of all feasts." - [[Codex d: Necrons]] P31p28*⁶ - "the Jackal God." - [[Codex: Necrons]] P31*⁷ - "...and the Jackal-God shall turn brother against brother."*⁸ - "gives human essence such a delicate flavouring" - [[Codex e: Necrons]] P8p30*⁹ - list from the bottom of page 27, [[Codex: Necrons]]*¹⁰ - "Here, it seems to be testing them, promising the race as a whole greatness at its side should they prove worthy." - [[Codex f: Necrons]] P50p31*¹¹ - "slipping back to barbarism" - [[Codex g: Necrons]] P50p50