Actually they do have a name; "the Coalition". Example:
Tyranids "R" Us [40k Tyranid Hivemind SI]
- Thread starter PlateGlassArmour
- Start date
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
Regarding the T'au's timeline, I would like to point out the following about the human timeline:
- Day to day life and the general technology level 400 years ago (1600, to be clear) was extremely similar to that of 4000 years ago.
- The technological revolution, or more precisely the fact that it is still ongoing and still accelerating, is a unique historical anomaly. All previous technological revolutions, and there were many, sputtered and halted within a generation or two.
- The combination of ideas, inventions, and socioeconomic pressures which converged in the 1700s could just as easily have done so 2000 years ago or 2000 years in the future.
- The independent worldwide invention of agriculture ~10,000 years ago was almost certainly to do with the end of the recent glaciation period, which climatic event has nothing to do with human developmental or societal readiness to make the shift.
The graph of human civilization over time is hundreds of thousands of years of essentially flat, near-zero, followed by ten thousand years of very slightly less flat (but still essentially flat) linear growth, followed by about three hundred years (so far) of exponential growth. The timing of those transitions are basically accidents.
- Day to day life and the general technology level 400 years ago (1600, to be clear) was extremely similar to that of 4000 years ago.
- The technological revolution, or more precisely the fact that it is still ongoing and still accelerating, is a unique historical anomaly. All previous technological revolutions, and there were many, sputtered and halted within a generation or two.
- The combination of ideas, inventions, and socioeconomic pressures which converged in the 1700s could just as easily have done so 2000 years ago or 2000 years in the future.
- The independent worldwide invention of agriculture ~10,000 years ago was almost certainly to do with the end of the recent glaciation period, which climatic event has nothing to do with human developmental or societal readiness to make the shift.
The graph of human civilization over time is hundreds of thousands of years of essentially flat, near-zero, followed by ten thousand years of very slightly less flat (but still essentially flat) linear growth, followed by about three hundred years (so far) of exponential growth. The timing of those transitions are basically accidents.
You're saying that with a lot of confidence, but it's not anywhere near that clear cut. At the very least, everything you said is a little wrong, and a good deal is quite wrong. Let me just go through some points, because this is a super complicated topic, and I'm only a lay person.
First, saying that technology of 1600 AD was extremely similar to -2000 BC is wrong. Flat out wrong. Like, that's comparing bronze age civilisations to a 'steel age' civilization (making significant amounts of steel is a good bit harder than iron). I'd also like to point at the development of both water wheel and windmill as two very important inventions, because that was the first time that work could be done without calories of food required. I'm not going to say anything further because that's as clear cut as it gets.
Even the much weaker statement (and fairly common) of saying that the medieval period did nothing is wrong. The movable type printing press was invented in 1440, and I think it's generally agreed as kind of a big deal for the spread of human knowledge. The windmill also comes from the medieval period. But there's a lot of subtle tech you generally don't think of that is nonetheless critical. Like the invention of writing good. Seriously, things like capital letters, punctuation, paragraphs, table of contents... all these things had to be invented. But without them, any scientific revolution runs into the problem that reading fucking sucks and takes forever and you don't want to do it. For that matter, good numbers also had to be invented, also in medieval period by the arab states (who didn't have a middle age, they had a golden age).
Linked with this are cultural changes. The concept of time and space as things separate from what they contain and something you can split into discreet, measurable chunks is something that slowly developed over centuries before it culminated in the radical shifts of the scientific revolution.
And of course, the industrial revolution is not a given, and required a lot of prerequisites that simply were not given earlier. Not it's possible that another development path could've gotten there a few centuries earlier, but that is very, very unclear, but certainly not two thousand years. The civilizations at the time simply did not have the economic, technological and cultural prerequisites necessary. I do agree that it could have been two thousand years later, or simply never happened. Probably, it's not like we have more than one to look at, and it's a devilishly complex topic.
On that note, I also agree that the end of the glacial period had a big impact on the development of agriculture and the resulting shifts in civilization. But at least some of it started before then, and it's still very complex with many interacting factors, so understanding it is difficult. At least we have multiple independent cases though.
As a final remark, I've talked about why the idea that nothing changed over very long parts is wrong. But I want to pick at the "it was linear, and then transitioned to exponential" idea. Because at the start, every exponential curves looks linear. And sitting at the top of the curve it's very easy to look down and just say nothing changes. Which, relatively, yeah. But that's a fundamental, defining part of an exponential. And it's quite easy to argue it goes a long way back. Because things get faster, for a long long time. They just used to be very slow. The first evidence of things like fire and stone tools predate homo sapiens and is millions of years old. Agriculture is roughly 12 thousand years old. Then it took till about 6000 until the invention of writing, and the start of history (when we can start reading what people wrote). The entire span of history fits into the time between when people settled, and when they started writing. That is fucking mind blowing.
Of course, even the idea of a single "progress value" for humanity is iffy, because you have many different civilizations, progressing in different ways and directions.
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AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
There actually is a crystalline species in canon, but it's Great Crusade Era, so whether they'd be floating around right now or not I don't know. The Emperor's Children encountered them in the Tranquility system after they came through a Warp Gate, this is the description we get of them and their abilities:
Each xenos of this race existed in the form of a many pronged star of transparent crystal, that moved by a strange process of expansion and contraction of its shape and mass. Unbelievably fast, each xenomorph was able to project an energy beam capable of cutting through ceramite, flesh and bone. The race possessed starships and emerged through the nearest Warp Gate.
502M06 Huzo in Space
- Location
- Ontario, Canada, Earth
502 M06
The canon tyranids were done dirty by their instincts. The ravenous hunger that drove them didn't allow for many higher tactics, but more importantly, it drove the pace of everything the tyranids did.
Of particular note was gestation time. Do you know why space marines overmatched essentially all tyranid units of equivalent size, and only started meeting their match with bioforms at least half again as big? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the superior engineering capabilities of humanity. It was all about the development time. Tyranids made so many compromises to meet their self imposed deadlines. The fact of the matter was, tyranids consumed a world within a hundred days or so for large, well defended worlds, and the vast majority of the units used in the assault were born on the surface during the invasion. To be useful at all, the larger bioforms had to be fully developed and ready to fight within seven days, and the smaller ones within two. While such biological acceleration of growth is certainly possible, you have to give up so many other tradeoffs to do it.
The sheer innovation possible when not working to such an impossibly short deadline is staggering. Case in point, I was having loads of fun helping humanity uplift the matouli and the huzo on accelerated timescales to meet the augmented humanity on a more even basis.
The average human adult was now just over two meters tall, but still had strength more than proportional with ancestral humans. In fact, despite having better than ancestral dexterity and fine motor skills, humans were now slightly stronger than the great apes optimized for strength, like gorillas. That being said, there was a far broader range of sizes than occurred naturally, so there were still some adults shorter than 1.5 meters, and some perfectly healthy people as tall as 2.5 meters, although most chose to stick to two meters for practicality purposes.
The matouli were very slightly shorter than ancestral humans, and their current height was slowly trending up above 1.6 meters. The huzo, by comparison, were tiny, at just over 1.2m if they stretched out, like they did when gliding. They had evolved for squirrel-like bounding on all four limbs with an aerodynamic forwards facing skull when hunched over. With their powerful hind legs and wingsuit-like gliding surfaces, they could make some truly astonishing leaps now that their strength was augmented to near-human levels, and they could literally clear most smaller buildings in a single bound.
Despite my close association with humans, it was actually the huzo that were getting to know me the fastest. Without purposeful direction, the "revelation" about your friendly neighborhood hivemind (me) had turned into an informal second coming of age for humanity. Your first coming of age was when you had enough self-determination to pair with a heart, although the exact age varied slightly from species to species. Your second coming of age was when you put enough of the clues together yourself to realize that there was a third player to the game of hearts and minds. Of course, since the second metric was all about your observational abilities, there were some idiots hundreds of years old who hadn't figured it out, and some not even in their second decade that already knew. The huzo were often in the latter category, because of their preferred habitats.
As I have said before, and will happily re-iterate, gravity wells are for suckers. As humanity spread, it was silently agreed upon that humanity was in charge of the planets, moons, and major stations, I was in charge of the minor solar orbitals, including artificial space habitats. Huzo loved gliding. Their survival had often been tied directly to their maneuverability in the air, so practicing that maneuverability was deeply satisfying to them. Even ancestral huzo often climbed tall trees in order to practice as often as practical. But the best possible place for gliding in the solar system? O'Neill cylinder habitats. With an exterior diameter of about 8 km and a rotational period of about two minutes, they had about 1g of artificial gravity on the cheap. More importantly, if you launched yourself from one of the ends of the cylinder, you could glide over the lands that made up your home for more than thirty kilometers before being forced to land.
While "stack of pancakes" layered artificial gravity habitats were still common, O'Neill cylinders were incredibly popular among the huzo.
The thing was, all the minor solar orbital infrastructure was ultimately a seat of my consciousness. It helped coordinate orbits and aided in easy communication between habitats around different stars. While they were largely mechanical, especially on the exterior, there were always "maintenance access channels" that were filled with, well, me.
So while humans and matouli slowly put together the occasional bit of evidence that I was around, in the general sense, most huzo had me around, in the literal sense, and familiarity does wonders for figuring stuff like that out.
In related news, several synths had started branching out into matouli and huzo body-plans, and occasionally even odder shapes. While the body assigned them at "birth" was predetermined, it was even easier for synths to do total body reshaping than organics could manage, and humans had figured that technology out centuries ago, it was just slow and fiddly.
It was kinda relaxing watching huzo and their flying companions just gliding around artificial habitats in space, free from worries in a way that was vaguely unnatural in the 40K setting. Oh, and let me tell you, huzo air races? Something else. They had full-contact categories, team-based competitions, variations of tag that looked like chaotic swirling masses of leaves, and more.
While I still identified with humanity, I'm no longer certain that I most strongly identify with humans.
The canon tyranids were done dirty by their instincts. The ravenous hunger that drove them didn't allow for many higher tactics, but more importantly, it drove the pace of everything the tyranids did.
Of particular note was gestation time. Do you know why space marines overmatched essentially all tyranid units of equivalent size, and only started meeting their match with bioforms at least half again as big? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the superior engineering capabilities of humanity. It was all about the development time. Tyranids made so many compromises to meet their self imposed deadlines. The fact of the matter was, tyranids consumed a world within a hundred days or so for large, well defended worlds, and the vast majority of the units used in the assault were born on the surface during the invasion. To be useful at all, the larger bioforms had to be fully developed and ready to fight within seven days, and the smaller ones within two. While such biological acceleration of growth is certainly possible, you have to give up so many other tradeoffs to do it.
The sheer innovation possible when not working to such an impossibly short deadline is staggering. Case in point, I was having loads of fun helping humanity uplift the matouli and the huzo on accelerated timescales to meet the augmented humanity on a more even basis.
The average human adult was now just over two meters tall, but still had strength more than proportional with ancestral humans. In fact, despite having better than ancestral dexterity and fine motor skills, humans were now slightly stronger than the great apes optimized for strength, like gorillas. That being said, there was a far broader range of sizes than occurred naturally, so there were still some adults shorter than 1.5 meters, and some perfectly healthy people as tall as 2.5 meters, although most chose to stick to two meters for practicality purposes.
The matouli were very slightly shorter than ancestral humans, and their current height was slowly trending up above 1.6 meters. The huzo, by comparison, were tiny, at just over 1.2m if they stretched out, like they did when gliding. They had evolved for squirrel-like bounding on all four limbs with an aerodynamic forwards facing skull when hunched over. With their powerful hind legs and wingsuit-like gliding surfaces, they could make some truly astonishing leaps now that their strength was augmented to near-human levels, and they could literally clear most smaller buildings in a single bound.
Despite my close association with humans, it was actually the huzo that were getting to know me the fastest. Without purposeful direction, the "revelation" about your friendly neighborhood hivemind (me) had turned into an informal second coming of age for humanity. Your first coming of age was when you had enough self-determination to pair with a heart, although the exact age varied slightly from species to species. Your second coming of age was when you put enough of the clues together yourself to realize that there was a third player to the game of hearts and minds. Of course, since the second metric was all about your observational abilities, there were some idiots hundreds of years old who hadn't figured it out, and some not even in their second decade that already knew. The huzo were often in the latter category, because of their preferred habitats.
As I have said before, and will happily re-iterate, gravity wells are for suckers. As humanity spread, it was silently agreed upon that humanity was in charge of the planets, moons, and major stations, I was in charge of the minor solar orbitals, including artificial space habitats. Huzo loved gliding. Their survival had often been tied directly to their maneuverability in the air, so practicing that maneuverability was deeply satisfying to them. Even ancestral huzo often climbed tall trees in order to practice as often as practical. But the best possible place for gliding in the solar system? O'Neill cylinder habitats. With an exterior diameter of about 8 km and a rotational period of about two minutes, they had about 1g of artificial gravity on the cheap. More importantly, if you launched yourself from one of the ends of the cylinder, you could glide over the lands that made up your home for more than thirty kilometers before being forced to land.
While "stack of pancakes" layered artificial gravity habitats were still common, O'Neill cylinders were incredibly popular among the huzo.
The thing was, all the minor solar orbital infrastructure was ultimately a seat of my consciousness. It helped coordinate orbits and aided in easy communication between habitats around different stars. While they were largely mechanical, especially on the exterior, there were always "maintenance access channels" that were filled with, well, me.
So while humans and matouli slowly put together the occasional bit of evidence that I was around, in the general sense, most huzo had me around, in the literal sense, and familiarity does wonders for figuring stuff like that out.
In related news, several synths had started branching out into matouli and huzo body-plans, and occasionally even odder shapes. While the body assigned them at "birth" was predetermined, it was even easier for synths to do total body reshaping than organics could manage, and humans had figured that technology out centuries ago, it was just slow and fiddly.
It was kinda relaxing watching huzo and their flying companions just gliding around artificial habitats in space, free from worries in a way that was vaguely unnatural in the 40K setting. Oh, and let me tell you, huzo air races? Something else. They had full-contact categories, team-based competitions, variations of tag that looked like chaotic swirling masses of leaves, and more.
While I still identified with humanity, I'm no longer certain that I most strongly identify with humans.
Happy Hampster
This is a Multipost
- Location
- Perth, Western Australia
very cool to see an SI grow and change in a different way than the usual; blah blah blah i'm so speshul and unique and nobody is like me and i can't relate to anybody. seeing SInid growing is very cool.
- Location
- England
Given the way warp works in W40K, sponsoring relaxed hippy races probably does more to damage the chaos gods and calm the warp then killing demon princes.
Ginny McAllister
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog
- Location
- Pacific NorthWet
One "complaint" ...
Really, O'Neill cylinders are so old-fashioned. A torus has better shielding. But the design I like best is a Halo, or Bishop Ring or (at a larger size) a Culture Orbital. All of these provide plenty of surface area, the "free artificial gravity", and all of them skip the material expense of a cylinder's glass walls.
True, rings require a bit of exotic material to meet the tension requirements. (In a talk about ringworlds, Niven once mentioned that "skrith," the ringworld's floor material, had to be so strong that a garbage bag constructed of skrith could contain a nuclear explosion.) But for rings much smaller than ringworld size (Bishop Rings, not Orbitals, and I don't know about Halos), you can size things down so that you can get by with simple carbon nanotubes. In a civilization with wraithbone engineering, I wonder what's possible? But then, we're only at M06. Maybe in the future...
Of course, a torus habitat and every ring design lacks the atmosphere-filled center with its zero/low-gravity zone, so I can bet the huzo will be sticking to their cylinders.
Really, O'Neill cylinders are so old-fashioned. A torus has better shielding. But the design I like best is a Halo, or Bishop Ring or (at a larger size) a Culture Orbital. All of these provide plenty of surface area, the "free artificial gravity", and all of them skip the material expense of a cylinder's glass walls.
True, rings require a bit of exotic material to meet the tension requirements. (In a talk about ringworlds, Niven once mentioned that "skrith," the ringworld's floor material, had to be so strong that a garbage bag constructed of skrith could contain a nuclear explosion.) But for rings much smaller than ringworld size (Bishop Rings, not Orbitals, and I don't know about Halos), you can size things down so that you can get by with simple carbon nanotubes. In a civilization with wraithbone engineering, I wonder what's possible? But then, we're only at M06. Maybe in the future...
Of course, a torus habitat and every ring design lacks the atmosphere-filled center with its zero/low-gravity zone, so I can bet the huzo will be sticking to their cylinders.
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
O'Niell cylinders, and those dimensions in particular, assume steel construction.
McKenree cylinders use carbon nanotubes instead and have an exterior diameter of over 900km. Their usable interior space is continent-sized.
How big can they build wraithbone at this point?
I was indeed being brief to the point of oversimplification. I, too, am not a historian.
'Extremely similar' was a poor choice of adjective; 'recognizably similar' is much more accurate. Yes, there was a great deal of change and progress over that time. But if you took a bronze age farmer and dropped them in a late middle ages farm, or a bronze age
Sure, the horse-drawn carriages and horse harnesses might be the coolest thing ever, but they could be built with bronze age tools and materials. Glass would be tricky.
Oh certainly, it had to be a development process. Mechanization enabled greater specialization and urbanization, which enabled larger workforces, which spurred more effective resource gathering, etc. Scientific and technological progress really kicked off when contributors to such started writing all their discoveries and achievements to their collaborators as the norm, and especially with the invention of intellectual property.
But nothing required that process to proceed at the pace it did. Other than prerequisites, nothing required any given development to happen or not happen at any particular time or place. The ideas of Socrates and Aristotle, and generally the idea that the wisdom of the ancients was (almost) entirely correct and held everything important for the modern day held (European) society back for a long time.
Meanwhile, Hero of Alexandria built a windmill and a primitive steam engine in the first century AD.
... Yeah, I'll agree with all of that.
Pick any quantifiable metric you want. Childhood survival rates, population, wealth produced per person, calories consumed per person, distance reasonably traveled, literacy rates, whatever. They all show roughly the same trend, especially in the last 300 years.
- Location
- USA
ONeill Cylinders aren't required to have glass walls, nor is it especially optimal for them to do so. It was just one specific design for them that did.
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Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
ctrl + F solar into stellar
Looks like have our favorite aliens, they're like dogs in term of who should survive in a movie. Let the flying squirrels/raptors carry our legacy!
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845M06 Necrons
- Location
- Ontario, Canada, Earth
845 M06
"You seem excited, albeit tinged with frustration. Did you discover a new wraithbone interaction or something?" The Emperor asked, having noticed the direction of my thoughts though the connection that we never actually bothered to close, these days.
"No, although I did finally stabilize my transmutation warp construct after so long studying the wraithbone and the impermeable warp-shield. What I'm excited about is that I finally found a Necron Tombworld."
Interest flowed through the bond. "Did you discover why you have been unable to locate them thus far? You've scouted an appreciable fraction of the Galaxy at this point, after all."
"I did, and the discovery was due to a random earthquake opening a fissure on one of the more unique garden worlds I was studying that allowed me to find one of their sealed Necropoli. The reason I hadn't found one until now was that I was searching incorrectly. I had assumed that the Necrons were active warp-suppressors, like the human 'blanks' described in the alternate timeline, and in a way they are, but what may be a naturally occurring phenomenon in some humans has been refined to an impossible degree with the Necrons. Rather than being a void that actively combats the immaterium around them, the energy is instead purely funneled into being unaffected by the warp entirely, to the point that they have no warp signature at all."
Genuine surprise. "Even comets and airless moons have a warp signature. I had assumed that everything in realspace had at least some presence."
"Exactly, hence why it took so long to find. One of the strangest effects I've seen. Psychic effects slide off even the base Necrodermis building material they use like it isn't even there. It also answers the question of how a race with no souls can remain safe from warp-corruption. Chaos simply cannot see or interact with them at all. It's as if they severed the realspace/empearean mirror entirely, and I don't have the faintest idea how it was accomplished." I was actually rather frustrated at that. I had hoped that Necrodermis would be a cornerstone to advancing warp-resistance, but it was too good at its job. I didn't have any effective means by which to analyze it properly.
"Hmm. So some indivisible property of the material they build everything with. I would appreciate a sample to work with, when you get the chance. I know you have some technological capability to analyze materials like this, but I also know that your capability doesn't scale well in that regard, as a primarily psychic entity. It will need to be handled correctly, but perhaps a few grams shipped to a few thousand research institutes each will yield something, although I will temper expectations to a degree."
I sent a wave of acknowledgement. "I would appreciate it. It feels like working blind, since all of my primary senses don't seem to function on it. It also means that we'll need to be more careful with planetary surveys moving forward, since you need to physically locate a Necropolis to know that it's there in the first place."
We sat in relative silence, half formed ideas bouncing back and forth as we both considered the idea.
The Emperor broke the silence first. "May I ask what's unique about life on that garden world?"
I nodded along. "I can see where you're going with this. Yes, it's a rare example of a phosphorus-starved ecosystem. Which doesn't mean anything in and of itself, since planets formed after the fall of the Old Ones often share that characteristic, but it could be a key indicator to look out for. It would also explain why Tombworlds are frequently described as lifeless deserts. Even if they were otherwise suitable for colonization, the Old Ones wouldn't bother seeding phosphorus onto Necron controlled worlds, and thus, life is far less likely to evolve there."
"Certainly something to watch, now that we're aware of the possibility. Now, how goes the project to totally enclose the pair bond network in the impermeable membrane."
"Well, as you know I finished excavating and laying the foundations about four hundred years after the Eldar attack on Damascus. It took a further five hundred to build the framework for the barrier itself, and then for the past three hundred the barrier has been growing in strength as it repairs itself. I estimate it's at about ninety percent strength, which means I can only catch glimpses of the network myself, despite surrounding it. Within a hundred years it will be totally enclosed, and I will be cut off from the network entirely. Beyond that point, new bonds that fit the conditions and precisely match the bond type can be added and the network itself can change the empyrean conditions within the barrier, but no external force will ever be able to influence the network through the warp."
A wave of satisfaction. "Good. It will be nice to finally have actual immunity for anyone who's formed a bond, rather than 'just' a strong resistance."
I waited a beat, before hesitantly adding my next point. "Actually, I have a hypothesis, now that the network is entirely enclosed."
"Yes?"
"Throughout all of human history, departed souls that lacked the strength to tear themselves free of the immaterium were simply dissolved back into the medium from which they emerged. Currently a peaceful, albeit very final, end. But when the warp storms come and daemons start actively hunting rather than acting as opportunistic feeders, souls will instead be devoured. But… If my hypothesis is correct, finishing the enclosure will give bonded pairs the ability the Eldar either naturally exhibit, or that they probably stole from some other Old One project of some sort. Namely, the ability for departed souls to retain their coherence for as long as they wish in the immaterium. Specific to this case, within the pairbond barrier."
The Emperor was thinking hard. "Now that will be interesting. I'll have to ponder the implications. If it is indeed a similar mechanism that the Eldar use, then I can foresee the ability for pairs to step back into realspace, provided they have a sufficiently isolated vessel to enter and their souls wish to make the leap."
"You seem excited, albeit tinged with frustration. Did you discover a new wraithbone interaction or something?" The Emperor asked, having noticed the direction of my thoughts though the connection that we never actually bothered to close, these days.
"No, although I did finally stabilize my transmutation warp construct after so long studying the wraithbone and the impermeable warp-shield. What I'm excited about is that I finally found a Necron Tombworld."
Interest flowed through the bond. "Did you discover why you have been unable to locate them thus far? You've scouted an appreciable fraction of the Galaxy at this point, after all."
"I did, and the discovery was due to a random earthquake opening a fissure on one of the more unique garden worlds I was studying that allowed me to find one of their sealed Necropoli. The reason I hadn't found one until now was that I was searching incorrectly. I had assumed that the Necrons were active warp-suppressors, like the human 'blanks' described in the alternate timeline, and in a way they are, but what may be a naturally occurring phenomenon in some humans has been refined to an impossible degree with the Necrons. Rather than being a void that actively combats the immaterium around them, the energy is instead purely funneled into being unaffected by the warp entirely, to the point that they have no warp signature at all."
Genuine surprise. "Even comets and airless moons have a warp signature. I had assumed that everything in realspace had at least some presence."
"Exactly, hence why it took so long to find. One of the strangest effects I've seen. Psychic effects slide off even the base Necrodermis building material they use like it isn't even there. It also answers the question of how a race with no souls can remain safe from warp-corruption. Chaos simply cannot see or interact with them at all. It's as if they severed the realspace/empearean mirror entirely, and I don't have the faintest idea how it was accomplished." I was actually rather frustrated at that. I had hoped that Necrodermis would be a cornerstone to advancing warp-resistance, but it was too good at its job. I didn't have any effective means by which to analyze it properly.
"Hmm. So some indivisible property of the material they build everything with. I would appreciate a sample to work with, when you get the chance. I know you have some technological capability to analyze materials like this, but I also know that your capability doesn't scale well in that regard, as a primarily psychic entity. It will need to be handled correctly, but perhaps a few grams shipped to a few thousand research institutes each will yield something, although I will temper expectations to a degree."
I sent a wave of acknowledgement. "I would appreciate it. It feels like working blind, since all of my primary senses don't seem to function on it. It also means that we'll need to be more careful with planetary surveys moving forward, since you need to physically locate a Necropolis to know that it's there in the first place."
We sat in relative silence, half formed ideas bouncing back and forth as we both considered the idea.
The Emperor broke the silence first. "May I ask what's unique about life on that garden world?"
I nodded along. "I can see where you're going with this. Yes, it's a rare example of a phosphorus-starved ecosystem. Which doesn't mean anything in and of itself, since planets formed after the fall of the Old Ones often share that characteristic, but it could be a key indicator to look out for. It would also explain why Tombworlds are frequently described as lifeless deserts. Even if they were otherwise suitable for colonization, the Old Ones wouldn't bother seeding phosphorus onto Necron controlled worlds, and thus, life is far less likely to evolve there."
"Certainly something to watch, now that we're aware of the possibility. Now, how goes the project to totally enclose the pair bond network in the impermeable membrane."
"Well, as you know I finished excavating and laying the foundations about four hundred years after the Eldar attack on Damascus. It took a further five hundred to build the framework for the barrier itself, and then for the past three hundred the barrier has been growing in strength as it repairs itself. I estimate it's at about ninety percent strength, which means I can only catch glimpses of the network myself, despite surrounding it. Within a hundred years it will be totally enclosed, and I will be cut off from the network entirely. Beyond that point, new bonds that fit the conditions and precisely match the bond type can be added and the network itself can change the empyrean conditions within the barrier, but no external force will ever be able to influence the network through the warp."
A wave of satisfaction. "Good. It will be nice to finally have actual immunity for anyone who's formed a bond, rather than 'just' a strong resistance."
I waited a beat, before hesitantly adding my next point. "Actually, I have a hypothesis, now that the network is entirely enclosed."
"Yes?"
"Throughout all of human history, departed souls that lacked the strength to tear themselves free of the immaterium were simply dissolved back into the medium from which they emerged. Currently a peaceful, albeit very final, end. But when the warp storms come and daemons start actively hunting rather than acting as opportunistic feeders, souls will instead be devoured. But… If my hypothesis is correct, finishing the enclosure will give bonded pairs the ability the Eldar either naturally exhibit, or that they probably stole from some other Old One project of some sort. Namely, the ability for departed souls to retain their coherence for as long as they wish in the immaterium. Specific to this case, within the pairbond barrier."
The Emperor was thinking hard. "Now that will be interesting. I'll have to ponder the implications. If it is indeed a similar mechanism that the Eldar use, then I can foresee the ability for pairs to step back into realspace, provided they have a sufficiently isolated vessel to enter and their souls wish to make the leap."
One with a revolving door policy!
- Location
- US
This is such a neat direction to take things, I love the progression!
- Location
- USA
And this folks is what happens when you get to Emps BEFORE he actually become the Emperor of Man. He is somewhat reasonable and not yet burned out on useless Xeno scum(Eldar, Ork, etc).
- Location
- Minnesota
"We're slowing down, go shovel some more fuel."
Changer of ways: Nooo noooooooo!
*Scratches at the floor to try to save itself*
JmonsterNEO
Spouter of nonsense
- Location
- The quest forums
Like an Infinity Circut, except less depressing.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
Righty then- FULL STEAM AHEAD!
Much better than Black Mage and his Hadoken powered by Love (IE, the divorce rate goes up detectably after firing).
AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I mean you joke but in canon Dark Age Humanity at least built one Titan that literally used Daemons as ammo.
Are you quiting this ?