Kell of Snow
Verified TinTin enjoyer
- Location
- New York
I had to double take when I saw the title, it looked too good to be true.
I'm lucky this is real.
I'm lucky this is real.
Shroud (Grey Goo game Shroud SI / Warhammer 40k)
- Location
- kentucky
maby but the C'Tan cant eat chaos and stay un tainted the shroud can and finds it tasty
I mean it fits the bill. Energy like beings that eat planets and suns.
- Location
- Kansas
True, and that is because the Shroud isn't a C'tan. Outside of seeing the Shroud munching on a Daemon, though, a lot of what the Shroud does would looks similar to someone with only a passing knowledge of the C'tan. Plus, I don't think details about the Star Vampires are common knowledge in the galaxy.
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LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
Heh heh heh.
Holy Terra was silent tonight. None of the people were sure what had happened, but the Emperor's visage, normally grim and patient (it was a skull, after all), now seemed to be smirking for some reason (now despite being a skull). Everyone was holding their breaths, waiting to find out what had caused such a change... or if the smirk was directed at them.
Deep in the Warp, four great minds awoke from strange dreams of impossible concepts unknowable by any sane mind. Awoke screaming. They assured themselves that it was only a dream, a thing that even the conceptual gods suffered at times. That was until a lesser daemon nervously scuttled in with the news...
Holy Terra was silent tonight. None of the people were sure what had happened, but the Emperor's visage, normally grim and patient (it was a skull, after all), now seemed to be smirking for some reason (now despite being a skull). Everyone was holding their breaths, waiting to find out what had caused such a change... or if the smirk was directed at them.
Deep in the Warp, four great minds awoke from strange dreams of impossible concepts unknowable by any sane mind. Awoke screaming. They assured themselves that it was only a dream, a thing that even the conceptual gods suffered at times. That was until a lesser daemon nervously scuttled in with the news...
- Location
- Namek;Digital World
You are forgetting that the Imperium and the Emperor are also tasty snacks for the Shroud.
LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
Not exactly forgetting, but I kinda figure he'd at least enjoy the schadenfreude. Even if they/he/she/it does end up being an issue for the Imperium, it's also targeting and wiping out the Warp, which is something that I don't think anyone else is doing. So, if he's going down, at least the Daemons are going to suffer at least as much.
Plus he's probably used to being outnumbered.
To sum up, even if the new player in the great game is hostile to him and humanity, it also eats daemons as a snack, so that's better than the rest of 'em!
Multi-User-Mainframe:Database // Tak Records // The Shroud // Primer
Drich
Von Neumann Writing Machine
Status update: 1.3 soon to arrive... in 8-9 hours. To tide you over until then, you get this. Some hints at lore and foreshadowing, all in one. I wonder how many details you'll pick up on.
Multi-User-Mainframe: Database // Tak Records // The Shroud // Primer
+++
What to say about the Shroud. It's an odd thing, escaping easy definition and analysation, seemingly delighting in defying classification. It changes, with time, with the environment, with exposure to life, such that it's near impossible to truly pin down what it is.
I have spent many years studying the Shroud, its actions and abilities. This time has lent me insight and knowledge of the Shroud, though such things are far from complete. Still, I am compelled now to share it.
For ease of access, the totally of these documents and insights have been compiled under the title of 'Tak Records'. I will ask in advance for your forgiveness, for I have a tendency to ramble.
At the moment, the Shroud is a living organism, with many forms and shapes and bodies. While it remains an ever-changing thing, adapting to circumstances and development, some shapes are so efficient that the Shroud reuses them often.
For all its bodies, the Shroud shares a few traits between them. Typically, any given form would be aesthetically composed of smooth silver, organic black, crystalline orange, and solid blue light. All Shroud lifeforms possess at least a modicum of shape-changing abilities, though this is typically minor and large changes to a body do not occur.
Additionally, all Shroud lifeforms are capable of manipulating energy, though the scale and degree of this ability varies. Almost all of them can absorb heat, and as a result are cool to the touch. Absorption of electrical energies is also quite common. Specific details on most other types of energies will come later, but I'll have to put the notes for one down here and now.
Warp Energy is the Shroud's favoured food. All Shroud lifeforms have the ability to absorb it, without exception, which typically results in rapidly expanding Shroud presences. Curiously, despite the evident ability to interact with Warp Energies, the Shroud also lack a presence in the Warp, and cannot draw energy from it without an intermediary or said Warp Energy already being inside realspace.
Even more curiously, the Warp itself seems to reject the presence of the Shroud. I've noted several attempts by the Shroud to enter the hellspace proper, and all have resulted in the Warp spitting the Shroud back out violently. This is a fact that brings incredible terror to me, as one of the implications of this is that the Warp might have some greater awareness to it, and is therefore actively defending itself. There are other, less frightening implications and explanations, but if all my years have taught me anything, it's that universe we live in is not that kind.
Aside from that, specific notes have to be made for any given lifeform.
But all of that gives no hint at what the Shroud is. What is the base substance of the Shroud?
That... has a strange answer. The Shroud is the Shroud, alive, but not formed from the same materials as anything else. All other known life is formed of a few basic things; realspace has elementary particles such as leptons and bosons forming subatomic particles forming atoms forming molecules forming the base structure of life. Creatures of the Warp are formed of its energy, chaotic and ever-different, but all share the same structure. Power, concepts, emotion, congealed into an entity with its own will.
The Shroud defies this. Among the entire known universe, the Shroud is utterly unique. It is not composed of matter formed by basic elementary particles, nor from the concepts and energy of the Warp. It is not dark energy, not some extremely esoteric set of physics. The Shroud, instead, is...
The Shroud. Some type of energy, anomalous in all respects, self-organising, self-directing, self-changing, and self-defined. It chooses whether or not it has mass, chooses how it interacts with other energies, chooses how to move, and is free to change this at any time it wishes. It is not omnipotent, and not every change is efficient, but it is an impossible thing made utterly real.
There's no name for it other than 'Shroud Energy'.
Where it came from, nobody knows. How it got here, much the same. What it does, however, has an answer. The Shroud is life, and like all life, it seeks to spread. Shroud Energy, see, can transform other types of energy into more of itself. It has a rather generous definition of 'energy', which includes matter, energy, data, Warp energy, emotion, souls, life... Only nonexistence itself seems to be able to escape it. The Shroud could be a great parasite, relentlessly draining all reality of all that exists.
But, here is a bit of fortune: The Shroud understands restraint. And, perhaps even more than that, sustainability. In realspace, the amount of energy is stupendously large, but ultimately limited. However long it would take, the Shroud expands exponentially; and will inevitably cover it all, if it so wished. But, it doesn't.
Because the Warp does not share that limitation. And, while the Shroud lacks the ability to draw from it...
We don't.
Given that, is it any wonder why the Shroud treats us as it does?
Multi-User-Mainframe: Database // Tak Records // The Shroud // Primer
+++
What to say about the Shroud. It's an odd thing, escaping easy definition and analysation, seemingly delighting in defying classification. It changes, with time, with the environment, with exposure to life, such that it's near impossible to truly pin down what it is.
I have spent many years studying the Shroud, its actions and abilities. This time has lent me insight and knowledge of the Shroud, though such things are far from complete. Still, I am compelled now to share it.
For ease of access, the totally of these documents and insights have been compiled under the title of 'Tak Records'. I will ask in advance for your forgiveness, for I have a tendency to ramble.
At the moment, the Shroud is a living organism, with many forms and shapes and bodies. While it remains an ever-changing thing, adapting to circumstances and development, some shapes are so efficient that the Shroud reuses them often.
For all its bodies, the Shroud shares a few traits between them. Typically, any given form would be aesthetically composed of smooth silver, organic black, crystalline orange, and solid blue light. All Shroud lifeforms possess at least a modicum of shape-changing abilities, though this is typically minor and large changes to a body do not occur.
Additionally, all Shroud lifeforms are capable of manipulating energy, though the scale and degree of this ability varies. Almost all of them can absorb heat, and as a result are cool to the touch. Absorption of electrical energies is also quite common. Specific details on most other types of energies will come later, but I'll have to put the notes for one down here and now.
Warp Energy is the Shroud's favoured food. All Shroud lifeforms have the ability to absorb it, without exception, which typically results in rapidly expanding Shroud presences. Curiously, despite the evident ability to interact with Warp Energies, the Shroud also lack a presence in the Warp, and cannot draw energy from it without an intermediary or said Warp Energy already being inside realspace.
Even more curiously, the Warp itself seems to reject the presence of the Shroud. I've noted several attempts by the Shroud to enter the hellspace proper, and all have resulted in the Warp spitting the Shroud back out violently. This is a fact that brings incredible terror to me, as one of the implications of this is that the Warp might have some greater awareness to it, and is therefore actively defending itself. There are other, less frightening implications and explanations, but if all my years have taught me anything, it's that universe we live in is not that kind.
Aside from that, specific notes have to be made for any given lifeform.
But all of that gives no hint at what the Shroud is. What is the base substance of the Shroud?
That... has a strange answer. The Shroud is the Shroud, alive, but not formed from the same materials as anything else. All other known life is formed of a few basic things; realspace has elementary particles such as leptons and bosons forming subatomic particles forming atoms forming molecules forming the base structure of life. Creatures of the Warp are formed of its energy, chaotic and ever-different, but all share the same structure. Power, concepts, emotion, congealed into an entity with its own will.
The Shroud defies this. Among the entire known universe, the Shroud is utterly unique. It is not composed of matter formed by basic elementary particles, nor from the concepts and energy of the Warp. It is not dark energy, not some extremely esoteric set of physics. The Shroud, instead, is...
The Shroud. Some type of energy, anomalous in all respects, self-organising, self-directing, self-changing, and self-defined. It chooses whether or not it has mass, chooses how it interacts with other energies, chooses how to move, and is free to change this at any time it wishes. It is not omnipotent, and not every change is efficient, but it is an impossible thing made utterly real.
There's no name for it other than 'Shroud Energy'.
Where it came from, nobody knows. How it got here, much the same. What it does, however, has an answer. The Shroud is life, and like all life, it seeks to spread. Shroud Energy, see, can transform other types of energy into more of itself. It has a rather generous definition of 'energy', which includes matter, energy, data, Warp energy, emotion, souls, life... Only nonexistence itself seems to be able to escape it. The Shroud could be a great parasite, relentlessly draining all reality of all that exists.
But, here is a bit of fortune: The Shroud understands restraint. And, perhaps even more than that, sustainability. In realspace, the amount of energy is stupendously large, but ultimately limited. However long it would take, the Shroud expands exponentially; and will inevitably cover it all, if it so wished. But, it doesn't.
Because the Warp does not share that limitation. And, while the Shroud lacks the ability to draw from it...
We don't.
Given that, is it any wonder why the Shroud treats us as it does?
- Location
- Not quite sure
So, if I'm reading this right, the Shroud is basically going to go into the human farming business?
Neat.
jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
Congrats humanity, you have been elevated to the rank of 'dairy cows' in order to give the Shroud a sustainable source of Warp energies.
More like fishing 'bait' to draw in the warp.
taovkool
Forever Gone
- Location
- The Library, Department of General Works
From helpless critters hunted down by cruel, more powerful hunters to valued farm animal.
I wish I could say it's a terrible thing, but considering the alternative...
Still just as bad, just less grimdark, I guess?
Who wrote these wiki pages anyway? Magos Xenos? Inquisitors?
- Location
- Kansas
This info post almost made me giggle at the thought of various Shroud Units following around some Psykers. They have little interest in the Psyker themselves, but instead are waiting to see if any Warp Entity might be drawn to the Psyker's presence.
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
pyskers in Warhammer get shroud body-guards...not to protect them and everyone around them of course...its more akin to have feeder fish hang around sharks...or how clown fish hang around their sea anemones...or how humans take care of cows and other farm animals.
its the coexistence and using them as both bait and a free energy tap!
heck the shroud could sneak some bits of itself onto a imperial ship and then create a "Skin" over it to feed on the warp energy. thus giving the shroud a way to hunt the warp!
also warp storms...the shroud needs to hunt down the warp storms and daemon infested planets in the materium. that would give them massive amounts of energy for free!
its the coexistence and using them as both bait and a free energy tap!
heck the shroud could sneak some bits of itself onto a imperial ship and then create a "Skin" over it to feed on the warp energy. thus giving the shroud a way to hunt the warp!
also warp storms...the shroud needs to hunt down the warp storms and daemon infested planets in the materium. that would give them massive amounts of energy for free!
Travisplo
The Necromonsieur
And the best part, it cleans the planet for human settlement. Because you know the Shroud won't leave any energy behind. Now, I wonder, what can the ShrouDrich do with WAAAAAGH energy?
- Location
- Namek;Digital World
Shroud and the Orks would get along like an house on fire. Infinite Power Source and Infinite War.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Looking forward to Shroud Drich making a beeline for the Eye of Terror.
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
I could make so many cracks about this...I wont though for the sake of decency, but I think slannesh wont like what's coming for it!
It is likely that the Eldar are in a similar boat.
- Location
- Russia
From all that I know of the Eldar, they'd actually be glad about that, if they could be assured that this is actually all that's going to happen, at the very least, which is an entire different can of worms. All they're doing is just trying to prevent as many Eldar as possible from getting tortured for all eternity.
- Location
- united kingdom
I can think of an in universe (40k) explanation for what the shroud is, or rather it's purpose; the shroud is a weapon or a tool created by the Necrons or one of the C'tan to convert the raw energies of the warp into a form that is more palatable to them.
During the War In Heaven the Old Ones we're so frightened by the Shroud and the prospect of the C'tan getting access to essentially limitless power that they imposed a rule/defence mechanism onto the warp itself that causes it to completely reject the Shroud in addition to them and their servants hunting it down whenever even a hint of Shroud presence was detected with a greater priority giving to its destruction then fighting the necrons ore the C'tan something that taxed them dearly and may have ultimately cost the Old ones the war.
The Aeldari continued hunting the Shroud after the war for various reasons (sport/is a threat/Deicide) but after the Aeldari Empire so spectacularly self destructed (birth of slanesh) it is beginning to re-emerge onto the galactic stage in a big way for the first time since the War In Heaven.
During the War In Heaven the Old Ones we're so frightened by the Shroud and the prospect of the C'tan getting access to essentially limitless power that they imposed a rule/defence mechanism onto the warp itself that causes it to completely reject the Shroud in addition to them and their servants hunting it down whenever even a hint of Shroud presence was detected with a greater priority giving to its destruction then fighting the necrons ore the C'tan something that taxed them dearly and may have ultimately cost the Old ones the war.
The Aeldari continued hunting the Shroud after the war for various reasons (sport/is a threat/Deicide) but after the Aeldari Empire so spectacularly self destructed (birth of slanesh) it is beginning to re-emerge onto the galactic stage in a big way for the first time since the War In Heaven.