You still go from " Grey Knight Captains" to "strong Psykers enhanced by the Shroud" and there are way more Psykers than Grey Knight Captains.
One needs hundreds years of training at least, while one seemingly only needs a Shroud attachment and being a Psyker.
The more powerful Chaos psykers are known for binding Greater Daemons, a process that will occasionally involve beating them somehow. And I would buy that powerful Ork wierdboyz sometimes beat greater Daemons. So this sort of thing has happened plenty of times without requiring Grey knights, it's just that a lot of Imperial Psykers go insane or explode when brought into proximity with a big enough Daemon.
The more powerful Chaos psykers are known for binding Greater Daemons, a process that will occasionally involve beating them somehow. And I would buy that powerful Ork wierdboyz sometimes beat greater Daemons. So this sort of this has happened plenty of times without requiring Grey knights, it's just that a lot of Imperial Psykers go insane or explode when brought into proximity with a big enough Daemon.
Weirdboyz don't follow normal Psyker strength functionality though; because they channel the WAAAGH! directly how powerful a Weirdboy is waxes and wanes depending on how powerful the WAAAGH! they are part of is. This is why Weirdboyz have an alarming tendency to explode when the WAAAGH! surges to become too powerful for them to handle. So any Weirdboy can theoretically be powerful enough to flatten Greater Daemons, it depends entirely on the WAAAGH! they are channeling, unlike most everyone else's Psykers who wield their own personal power.
The Tyranids are the other example to this; Tyranid Psykers (Zoanthropes and derivatives, basically) are conduits for the psychic power of the Hive Mind, which it channels through them, rather than using their own personal psychic might.
Binding a Greater Daemon without external assistance, either from the Ruinous Powers, artifacts created to bind Daemons or the Daemon's True Name, would likely require at least a Beta level Psyker, if not an outright Alpha. Such Psykers are incredibly rare; Betas are less than one in a hundred billion in humans and Alphas are one in multiple trillions at best. And the majority of Alpha and Beta level Psykers who aren't culled for instability are sent to become Grey Knights. (Eldar on the other hand are born at approximately Delta\Beta level, and only grow stronger from there.)
So yeah, a Shrouded Psyker who was likely an above average Epsilon\Zeta level at best being able to go mano-a-mano with a Greater Daemon, and not just any Greater Daemon but a Bloodthirster, the Greater Daemons that are outright the best at straight up fight time, is a pretty big deal. It does also make sense, as if you remember the prior chapters it was explained that being Shrouded not only allows a Psyker to ultimately draw more energy from the Warp than they would normally, but it also allows them to draw it constantly, something that is totally impossible for a normal Psyker, even one blessed by the Ruinous Powers.
If you think about it, drawing energy from the Warp constantly like that makes a Shrouded Psyker functionally very similar to a Daemon in regards to energy usage and availability; the only way for a mortal to draw energy from the Warp perpetually is to ascend as a Daemon Prince. This theoretically means that in practice being Shrouded is basically like becoming an 'anti-Daemon Prince'; a sort of 'material' Daemon that draws power from the Warp but exists almost entirely in the material plane, as opposed to Daemons that exist mostly in the Warp.
It also means that Drich's humans are source of Daemon-killing Anime Fightmans, complete with JoJo style Stands, taunts and poses. Which will only get turned up to 11 if she Shrouds the Primarch, as Primarchs are already anime-level over-the-top ridiculousness and adding the Shrouded multiplier onto that will definitely surge the setting into full JoJo territory.
Are you ready for giant 12 foot tall muscle men punching out Daemons while flexing with their soul robots? Because I think that might be where this is going, and I am totally on board with that.
e: Also, it just occurred to me that the Silence probably occludes the Shroud at least partially from the senses of the Ruinous Powers, which is good as it will make it difficult for them to properly coordinate an attack against the threat, or even accurately judge just how serious a threat the Shroud actually is, as they won't be able to really tell what is going on inside Silenced areas unless a Daemon gets away to act as a messenger.
Even Shroud linked Psykers need time to develop to the level we see here. I'm betting this Psyker is the oldest and most powerful to have been liked to the Shroud.
On the other hand, it likely was still a process that took far less years then a Grey Knight Captain.
As the Shrouded humans experiment and develop their technologies further, it could develop in all kinds of ways.
While stuff like out of Oh My Goddess is a possibility, they might prefer a more technological appearance like Teknoman/Tekkaman: Transformation Theme music for that show.
As the Shrouded humans experiment and develop their technologies further, it could develop in all kinds of ways.
While stuff like out of Oh My Goddess is a possibility, they might prefer a more technological appearance like Teknoman/Tekkaman: Transformation Theme music for that show.
The big thing is that they can experiment safely with symbolism to find out what attracts Warp energies and what repels them; the primary issue with figuring out anti-Warp technologies is that the Ruinous Powers have invested heavily into making any such experimentation extremely high risk, such that whenever an experiment invariably goes wrong (as experiments usually do, that's why they are experiments) instead of it just failing like a normal experiment, you're suddenly up to your eyeballs in angry Daemons.
With the Silence quelling that effect, they can conduct experiments more safely and thus figure out how the Warp works without inevitably being eaten by Daemons. This has already paid dividends in the form of Quiet-glass, something that was never discovered in canon 40k due to the aforementioned experimental difficulties, and will doubtlessly lead to further discoveries in time. Because just as there are symbolic constructs that attract Warp powers, there are symbolic constructs that repel them as well, Phase-Iron is a canonical example of this, as is Blackstone, the material from which the Cadian Pylons were wrought, and of course the ubiquitous Gellar Field. Exactly how these things work is unknown due to the creators being either dead or Necrons, but the existence of such materials and devices implies the existence of other such things as well, the trick is discovering them without being eaten by Daemons.
That the Ruinous Powers invest so much effort and energy into making research into the Warp such an actively dangerous topic further supports the implication that there are potential discoveries that can assist with combating the Warp and its denizens, as they would not bother to do so if such research did not constitute a potential threat to them, and as the Necrons have definitively proven it is possible to use purely material sciences to not only meet the Warp on equal ground, but defeat it and cut it off from the material realm entirely.
For example, one possible discovery the humans in Sanctuary could make is how to shield AI from Daemonic possession, something that we again know is possible because Necrons; the lower tier Necrons are little more than AI's patterned off the mental imprints of the people they used to be, yet despite being soulless mechanical constructs the Necrons are totally immune to Daemonic possession. If they can figure out how to make 'safe' AI that cannot be turned against them by Daemons, that would be a huge step towards reclaiming some of the lost glory of the Golden Age without repeating the mistakes of the past. The possibilities are many and priceless; even the Eldar cannot experiment with the Warp the way the people of Sanctuary can.
Khornate daemons are the ones most likely to go "Meh I can take them" or "Finally, a worthy opponent" when they hear of something killing daemons from gossip around the water cooler (or however daemons socialize).
Are you ready for giant 12 foot tall muscle men punching out Daemons while flexing with their soul robots? Because I think that might be where this is going, and I am totally on board with that.
Shroud Primarch meeting the Emprah for the first time: *Scoffs* Do you even pose? *Distant Ai Ai Ai*
Que Emprah and S!Primarch in pose-off.
Strangely, this wouldn't be all that odd for the Emperor. He has had to do a lot of odd things to gain the respect of his sons, from philosophical debates on the nature of the human soul to honour duels with far too much oil to going on hunts with wild wolves.
Posing for a few minutes while staring dramatically at each other probably wouldn't rate all that high on list of weird shit he's done.
Shroud Primarch meeting the Emprah for the first time: *Scoffs* Do you even pose? *Distant Ai Ai Ai*
Que Emprah and S!Primarch in pose-off.
Strangely, this wouldn't be all that odd for the Emperor. He has had to do a lot of odd things to gain the respect of his sons, from philosophical debates on the nature of the human soul to honour duels with far too much oil to going on hunts with wild wolves.
Posing for a few minutes while staring dramatically at each other probably wouldn't rate all that high on list of weird shit he's done.
I wouldn't even put it past the Emprah's psychic capacity to spontaneously generate appropriate theme music for the pose fight, a psyker of the Emprah's caliber is basically limited only by one's imagination and if he thought it would help gain the respect of his flex-happy son he'd pull out the phantom orchestra without even blinking.
Did the Primarchs get stolen before or after the birth scream that both created the Eye of Terror and also calmed down the warp storms that were making travel impossible? Or are those two separate events?
Edit: also I think the idea of grand theft Primarch is hilarious.
Primarchs were made LONG after the birth. Primarchs are at the tail end of the Age of Strife, while Slaanesh was born at the beginning of it. Primarchs are M31, Slaanesh is M25.
What was in this pod that it could get the attention of a damned Bloodthirster?
Distant thumping echoes through the forest for a moment. Singleton straightens up, while the Symbiont dematerializes, his cohort drifting to the ground. The name on his suit declares him just as well as his Symbiont does.
Redgrave.
The source of the black hole enters the clearing a few moments later, knocking over a tree as it does. It's a massive thing, larger than even the Bloodthirster. A Dirge, and a fully grown one, at that.
My Dirge-self moves with a grace that's unexpected, for something of that size, heading towards the pod. My other bodies do the same, as does Singleton and Redgrave.
"What is it?" The latter asks.
"I'm not certain." Singleton answers. "My scans are receiving interference."
I look over the pod. It's just as it was before, though there's a little less Warp Energy around it now.
Singleton kneels down, touching the pod. His fingers curve, and he lifts it, turning it over.
The other side of it is something that isn't smooth metal, so that's an immediate improvement when it comes to figuring out what this is. There's actually a pair of markings, one above the other. The first is a simple one, showing 'II', but the second...
It looked like an eagle head, actually. A side-on view of one, with a pair of lightning bolts behind it.
And now that I say it like that, I realize what it is. I know this symbol.
Singleton's hand brushes over the icon, lingering on it for a moment.
"Something wrong?" Redgrave asked.
Singleton took a moment to answer. "I am detecting a lifesign."
Lifesign? Hmm... Yes, underneath this Warp Energy, I can feel... bio-energies. Though, they're a bit odd.
Singleton's hand drifts down, finding a seam. He digs a finger in, and the pod opens up.
I pause. Singleton stops. Redgrave freezes.
"That's a baby."
Indeed, it's a baby. Asleep, surrounded by arcane technology, and pulsing with the most powerful soul I've ever seen.
"Yes." Singleton agrees.
A Clasher-self reaches in, gently picking up the baby.
"Why does a pod that got spat out of the damned Warp have a baby in it?"
I touch a pincer to its chest, a pulse of energy flowing it.
"I don't know."
Woah. This soul is... Human, but more. And echoing with something ancient and powerful. And the Warp connection, it's just ridiculously strong. The most powerful Psyker in Sanctuary can't compare.
Which... is not a good thing, on this planet, inside of this Warp Storm. A soul of this strength would be difficult to corrupt, but if it was corrupted...
Eugh. Terrifying.
I can sense it, actually. Warp Energies concentrating, Chaos drawn to this power like mosquitoes were drawn to blood. The only thing stopping it is the lingering energies of that more ancient power.
I know what this baby is. I know what it means, too. There will be consequences.
But, that said... I can't let this corruption happen. And I only knew one way, for certain, that would stop it.
I prepare a Symbiont-
And at that moment, the baby's eyes open, blinking. They turn to my Clasher-self, displaying awareness that no normal Human baby had. I can feel the soul reaching out.
Before anything can happen, I reach back, enveloping the baby's soul in my power. It stills, feeling me back, searching for signs of... danger, hostility. I send a feeling of safety to it, the idea that I will protect it. I am honest, and after a moment, it lets go, eyes closing again.
The body was just as strong as the soul. Far from a normal Human. Many additional structures, organs, things with purpose... and yet...
The soul... is bound tightly to the body, here. In a way that I've never seen before. The body supports the soul and the soul supports the body. It was...
Elegant, honestly. But also troublesome. A normal creature- a normal body might be able to survive without a soul, but this baby... Definitely not. There's an interdependency there, so efficient that it cannot be natural.
And yet... It's adaptable. Simple exposure is making both the body and the soul change, in a way that reminded me...
Of myself, actually. More limited- far more limited, yet oddly similar in a few ways...
This Symbiont will have to be implanted carefully. I feed it in, gently, entwining it with the structures of the soul and the body. It's far more involved than any other, but there's enough room, and enough adaptability on behalf of the baby, for it to work.
This one would be one to watch.
"And now the baby's got a Symbiont." Redgrave sighs, shaking his head. "Oh, whatever."
"We should hurry to bring this back to Sanctuary." Singleton says, picking up the pod in one arm.
+++
Sanctuary's leadership consisted of a group of six. It was a small council, the most capable of Sanctuary, with further assistance from MUM and dedicated Stone Administrative AIs, all to form a body that could act with maximum efficiency and knowledge for the good of mankind.
Or, at least, the good of Sanctuary. We were all kind of stuck in here, after all.
The six in the room weren't particularly strange, at least as far as the people of Sanctuary went. Three women, two men, and a Valiant. I knew all of them.
Tori Una. A relatively short woman, in comparison to everybody else in Sanctuary, which meant that she wasn't a giant like the rest of them, standing at the 'mere' height of 170 centimeters. She was about the only person I knew whose genetic engineering hadn't put them at at least 190, a fact which she took in stride. She was in charge of finance, control and management of the resources that Sanctuary used in its day-to-day operations. She ran a pretty tight ship, all considered.
Vivian Lawrence. A serious person, whose seemingly dour attitude hid just how much she cared. Health was her remit, ensuring the safety and prosperity of the people of Sanctuary, both physically and mentally.
Leo Lawrence. Vivian's brother and teammate. The mandate of civil security was his, managing Sanctuary's police and investigative forces. Between him and his sister, actual crime had remained very low, the people of Sanctuary well cared-for, even outside of the Symbiont.
Mikah Sephen. Head of science, development. A man possessed with the undying desire to know more, tempered by his experiences on this world. He was a great engineer himself, with an army of researchers underneath him.
Singleton. Security was the task assigned to this ancient Man of Stone, and there were few more suited to the job. One did not survive for ten thousand years in a galaxy like this without having picked up more than a few tricks. Singleton was a decorated soldier, a defender of Humanity from an age long past.
And of course, the head of the council.
Lucy Tak.
A woman who'd be much happier exploring the mysteries of life, guided by nothing more than her own relentless curiosity. She had fire within her, a strength that seen the worst this planet had to offer and spat in its face. She'd been on the forefront of a lot of it.
After all, she was my first host. I'll admit, I had no small amount of fondness for her.
Warp energy is know to extend lives, so this must be "side effect" of a Symbiont.
A few psykers and Sorcerers have mastered their art well enough to utilise the Warp's revitalising effect on their own bodies and thereby take control over the aging process. The greatest master of this ability is the Emperor, who kept himself alive for more than 40,000 Terran years before he was interred within the Golden Throne. He could even extend this power to preserve valued servants, such as Malcador the Sigillite, and this gift is still evident in many of the Living Saints of the Adepta Sororitas.
I admit that I have a certain enjoyment in interpretations of the Doom Slayer. This may be fun. ^^^
I recently-ish saw a really fun Mass Effect/Doom crossover where he had been around for millenia and the ME universe was understandably concerned when they met humans. It may have been the demon infestation that nearly got to the Citadel, or it may have been the fact that there was a militant religious order that seemingly wanted to help them. It may also have been the physical god who was claimed to be able to carry a nation's worth of guns, ships, and ammo in his armor's storage. Take a look... Exitium Eternal [Mass Effect & DOOM / iD-verse]
Primarchs were made LONG after the birth. Primarchs are at the tail end of the Age of Strife, while Slaanesh was born at the beginning of it. Primarchs are M31, Slaanesh is M25.
Ties into canon surprisingly well too; supposedly what happened with the two Lost Primarchs was so bad that it made the Horus Heresy look tame by comparison, and had they not been purged humanity would have been utterly destroyed. A Primarch landing on a world in the heart of a Warp Storm in the early days of the Age of Strife and promptly being recovered by Daemons, then given ~5000 years of Chaotic influences to grow corrupt and strong would definitely eclipse Horus in every way. That is not recoverable, not even a little bit.
This is another Tak Record, though it doesn't contain much new, aside from commentary and speculation. As such, I'm throwing it in a spoiler.
Multi-User-Mainframe: Database // Tak Records // The Shroud // Structures
'Structures' is a bit of a misnomer. The Shroud is alive, from the smallest creatures to the largest.
Yet, among them... some Shroud Lifeforms can only be classified as structures. Buildings, really. The Shroud's tendency towards creating a base is odd, for creatures that have the capability to directly self-replicate if they wished.
It is an issue with efficiency, I think, that causes it. The first state of the Shroud spread greatly, at will, limited only by the energy it could take in. It could have easily expanded to consume the entire planet, I think. Yet, now, though it maintains an incredible ability spread... it is more limited.
Restraint. Efficiency. The Shroud's actions in conflict with the potential nature.
But that is another story. For now, I document my findings.
I shall start where the Shroud itself starts, the core of any given seethe.
THE ENTITY
I refer to it as the Entity. A large Shroud lifeform, the center of any Shroud holding. Whenever the Shroud starts a colonisation effort, it begins with an Entity.
The Entity's role within a seethe is twofold. First, it acts as a production facility, spawning sets of other Shroud lifeforms. Second, it is a resource storage, taking in energy and distributing it to all other Shroud lifeforms. This gives it a role that can be likened to a 'headquarters' from a more normal species, as its capabilities mean that the Shroud will defend it with everything it has, because everything else is replaceable so long as the Entity itself survives.
The Entity is among the largest creatures within a seethe, closer to a building than it is to anything else. It is capable of floating, but this movement is relatively slow. The first priority of the Entity is to move to an energy-rich environment, and then anchor itself into the ground so that it can start its operations. Under normal circumstances, once anchored, an Entity will rarely move, except so that it can go to an even richer spot.
Once it is anchored, however, it will begin absorbing energy from its environment. This absorption is quite slow on its own, accounting for its lack of specialization, so the Entity will inevitably spawn other energy-gatherers, primarily Extractors or Harvesters.
From there, the course of action that the Entity takes is determined by its environment and circumstances. Particularly rich areas with little-to-no danger involved will see rapid deployment of more energy-gatherers so that the Shroud can maximise its resourcing. As danger increases, so too does the amount of resources allocated to protecting or exterminating that danger.
To note; the Entity itself is not responsible for spawning mobile Shroud lifeforms. Indeed, most forms of Shroud that spawn from the Entity are immobile. I suspect that this is because of the way that the Entity's production works; energy is concentrated, morphed and focused into a stable embryo, then transported into the environment where the embryo grows on its own into the complete structure. The transportation itself appears to be some form of short-ranged teleportation, but I haven't been able to directly observe this, mostly because one end is inside the Entity, and the other is always slightly below the ground. I suppose that it could also be some form of light-speed transportation of energy, but no sensors can detect any such thing, so I default to the former. I'm not entirely certain on the limits or capacity of this teleportation, otherwise, as the Shroud appear to make no use of it anywhere else or for any other purpose.
I suppose that if one had to make the Entity fit a description, then it could be called the heart of the Shroud.
Next on the list is energy-gatherers.
ENERGY-GATHERERS
Energy-gatherers are the second most important lifeforms among a Shroud seethe, directly after the Entity. There are a multitude of observed types, but the two most basic and most common are the Extractor and the Harvester.
Visually, both are similar. Tripods, orange crystals at knee and shoulder, with the central core containing the blue energy light that many Shroud lifeforms exhibit. The only difference between them is that the Harvester is physically larger, with a more elongated core.
Both, however, serve the same role; gathering energy for the Shroud. It is the specifics of the role that differ; Extractors are capable of gathering energy more quickly than a Harvester, but are limited to rich and abundant sources. Harvesters, meanwhile, are slower, but are capable of consuming any known material and converting it into energy. As such, Extractors are seen mostly in oil fields, lava flows, and hydrocarbon deposits, while Harvesters appear anywhere with a lack of easy energy, such as deserts, abandoned cities, or ice fields.
Both types are capable of moving, by walking on their three legs. The Harvester, however, is better at it, capable of scaling sheer surfaces whereas the Extractor requires mostly flat ground and ramps. I believe the Harvester's more varied energy-draining ability allows this behaviour. Or, perhaps, that the Extractor's more specialised ability disables it.
In either scenario, both are capable of floating, but only display this behaviour when traversing deep liquids and when gathering energy. In the latter case, both will float above the energy-source, and gather from it, which visually appears as a blue vortex of energy draining from the source, into the gatherer itself. From there, the energy is distributed to the Entity, where it is routed for the Shroud's purposes. Some energy-gatherers are also capable of projecting energy to nearby Shroud Lifeforms, increasing their durability and healing them over time, though this appears to be a mutation that is added and removed as needed.
An effective system.
Still, the scale of the Shroud is more than capable of permitting greater creatures that fill such roles. The Entity is one such example, though not a specialized one. Why does the Shroud not deploy larger creatures?
I can't say.
SPAWNERS
Third on the list are the spawning structures.
As I noted before, the Entity is not responsible for spawning most mobile Shroud lifeforms. Energy-gatherers are the few exceptions.
The other, smaller creatures of the seethe have their own specific spawners.
Advent:
Crucible:
Zenith:
All three are triangular structures, with a central portion and three limbs around them. These limbs end in pods, which is where the Shroud lifeforms are birthed.
I have named them the Advent, the Crucible, and the Zenith.
The Advent spawns the smaller of the Shroud ground lifeforms, primarily the Clasher, the Howler, the Mimic, and the Siren. It is capable of spawning others, but these four are the primary lifeforms that will appear.
The Crucible spawns the larger of the Shroud ground lifeforms, primarily Klaxons, Echoes, Fugues, and most rarely, the Dirge.
The Zenith spawns the air lifeforms of the Shroud, primarily Chimes, Machs, Torrents, and Shrieks.
The process is similar in all cases. First, a pod will be flooded with energy, and an embryo formed. The pod itself will inflate, a barrier of blue energy in the shape of a polyhedron keeping the energy contained as a semi-fluid.
The embryo, in this environment, grows with extreme speed, even the largest of Shroud lifeforms formed within minutes. The sole exception I've seen is the Dirge, though I'll get back to that later.
This production rate is so fast that the primary limiter on Shroud expansion is actually resourcing, gathering energy to use rather than actually using it. Full scale rapid production is therefore quite rare, except during the peak of the Daemontide, where the vast amounts of Daemons and Warp Energy available leaves the Shroud with an abundant supply.
Protecting all of the above are a number of defensive lifeforms.
DEFENSES
The Shroud employs a number of stationary lifeforms with strong capabilities. Defensive structures, in other words. There are a few types, and their presence is quite rare on our island.
Plasma Spike:
Tether Spike:
Perception Spike:
Aversion Spike:
The four most common are as follows:
The Plasma Spike, which functions as a defensive anti-ground turret. It shoots a wide-angle spray of Shroud Energy which has an effect approximately similar to being bathed in a spray of plasma, hence the name.
The Tether Spike, which functions as an anti-air turret. It's role is not actually to destroy them outright, but to bring them down to the ground, as the Tether Spike creates a gravitational cage effect that overwhelms the target's ability to stay in the air. This gravitational effect can be quite dangerous, depending on the terrain, beneath, as while the cage stops it from falling too fast, dangerous ground can still destroy aircraft. Once it is on the ground, it is of course vulnerable to ground-based fire, such as Plasma Spikes.
The Perception Spike, which functions to detect stealthed. It is capable of interfering with almost all known forms of stealth through the use of a Shroud Energy Field that covers both technological and Empyreal methods. More than a few Daemons who though they were clever have tried to turn themselves invisible, only to wander near a Perception Spike and subsequently get immolated by Plasma Spikes. The Perception Spike is also capable of cloaking other Shroud Lifeforms around it, though this is mostly limited to mobile forms, and furthermore does not always employ this ability.
The Aversion Spike, which functions as an area-denial tool. Aversion Spikes, like the Tether Spikes, produce a gravitational effect. Unlike Tether Spikes, Aversion Fields use this effect to push away incoming hostiles, selectively launching away whatever they don't like that comes close. Chains of Aversion Spikes effectively transform into walls. Of additional note is that Aversion Spikes can also act as energy distributors, providing energy for nearby Shroud Lifeforms to heal rapidly, though this ability is not always universally observed.
There are types of Spikes, these are just the most common.
All of this is enhanced by the second to last thing on the list.
AMPLIFIERS
These, I refer to as Amplifiers. They act to enhance the capabilities of other Shroud structures around them, serving as additional energy distribution points for a seethe.
Their existence implies that the Entity's energy allocation abilities are not perfect- or, perhaps, that the Entity's energy allocation abilities are not perfectly efficient. I can't say for certain, which.
Regardless of which is true, however, I can definitely comment on what happens when they're used. For Spawners, the structure becomes capable of spawning more and larger lifeforms, directly increasing production rates. For defensive Spikes, the effect varies.
No observed effects take place with Aversion Spikes, though the other three types benefit dramatically. Plasma Spikes gain greater range and power, and then further change the nature of the Shroud Energy they spray into one that acts remarkably similar to napalm gel, sticking to the unfortunate target for a considerable length of time after initial exposure.
Tether Spikes have their gravitational cages become more effective, now capable of doing direct damage by tuning gravity so high that the unit is crushed.
Perception Spikes gain an odder ability, now able to cause stealthed targets damage. For technological devices, it overloads the stealth generators, causing a similar effect in Empyrean-based stealth through unknown methods. The result is catastrophic, and dangerous, failure of stealth, typically followed shortly after by immediate incineration.
The final thing on the list is a relatively normal one, though also quite rare.
OVERCHARGER
The Overcharger is a structure that produces short-term, near-instantaneous modifications in Shroud Lifeforms. These modifications vary in nature, but they allow the Shroud to adapt at rapid scale.
Most modifications fall into three templates:
First is strength; Shroud Lifeforms are charged with energy, making them stronger, faster, with the drawback of significantly compromising the integrity of their energy matrices, rendering them much more vulnerable to disruption.
Second is toughness; Shroud Lifeforms are grafted with particularly dense amounts of Shroud Energy, making them more resistant to damage- at the cost of speed and a loss of agility.
Third is speed; Shroud Lifeforms are made less 'dense', reducing toughness and strength, but increasing speed and agility to high levels.
Despite the tactical versatility offered, the Shroud doesn't make much use of Overchargers. Perhaps because it compromises efficiency? Even without them, there is usually a Shroud Lifeform dedicated to any given task. Varying compositions of lifeforms within a seethe is typically better capable of handling any given set of circumstances.
