Post by The Librarian on Jul 19, 2008 11:49:18 GMT -7
For all of the Warhammer 40K people around here.
The Warp
The Warp (also referred to as the Empyrean, Aether or Immaterium) is an alternate dimension to our own reality. It is said by those psyker-mystics and astral-seers who will speak of such things, that the warp exploded into being at the same instant as the material universe, and that the two realms are inextricably and permanently linked to one another. As real-space is a dimension of the physical, so it is said, Warp space is a dimension of the spiritual.
The laws governing the Warp are quite different than those governing the physical universe, if indeed any laws can be said to apply to this realm of chaos. The Warp is an ever-shifting dimension of raw, unfocused energy. Occasionally the link between Warp space and the material realm is weakened and energy from the warp will burst through and create a vortex of power. The powers of the Empyrean have direct influence in such places. Those that visit the strongest of these vortexes speak of a nightmare region where nature and physics are forgotten, and madness and confusion reign. They speak of worlds whose skies burn with fire, or planets seething with seas and rivers of blood, disc-shaped worlds, heavenly bodies with screaming faces and tormented features shaped by the merest whim of the powerful deities that are formed from the Chaos.
“The forces of Warp space rage like the mightiest ocean, and if a mortal could perceive the sound of that realm, he would hear every noise in the universe voiced simultaneously, and would be driven utterly and profoundly insane by the experience.”
The Immaterium is a dimension of the spiritual, created and influenced by mortal emotion and action. Save a few rare exceptions, the mind of every sentient creature leaves an imprint within the Immaterium; a mere spark of light against an inferno. Although the signature of one mind is almost insignificant, when the imprints of an entire race are combined they have a huge impact on the very nature of the Warp (This seems to imply that the Immaterium is not chaotic by nature, but has been made so by the chaos and war in the material realm). With the emergence of Man as the dominant race in the galaxy, the Warp underwent a parallel development. As the souls of the psychically attuned races are linked to the Warp, so their thoughts and emotions are reflected there. n the deepest eddies in the ocean of the Warp, are formed consciousnesses, created by the emotions of the 'young races' that echo their deepest passions. Sometimes these concentrations coalesce into entities that draw their power from the expression of certain emotions in real-space. Many such beings are said to exist within the Warp, some only for a short time as the passion associated with their creation passes. Yet others have transcended the limits of their birth and are no longer mere reflections of the mortal psyche; they now have the power to inspire and feed those emotions that give them their identity; beings of incomprehensible and terrible power. The strongest of these beings become the gods associated with a group, and almost every single race or force of will is represented, be they chaos, Eldar, Ork, Human or any other.
Warp Travel
The Energy of the warp flows like stream and rivers or currents in a mighty ocean. Some of these currents are very fast, others are very slow. A journey that may take centuries in real space can be traversed in a matter of weeks in the warp. If one can navigate these currents, they can use this phenomenon the facilitate faster than light travel. If read correctly however, these currents may have opposite effects than those desired. The tides of warp space move in complex and inconsistent patterns. Warp space can be likened to an ocean, and like the ocean, has its currents and its still spots, its whirlpools and its tempests. Storms sweep through this immaterial realm, spinning travelers out of control for light years around, destroying all those embroiled in its merciless energies.
“For the warp is a strange and terrible place. You might as well throw a traveler into a sea of sharks and tell him to swim home as send him through the warp unprotected.”
“The voyage across the vastness of warp space is full of hazards which are unimaginable to the common warriors of the Imperium. The greatest threat does not come from the denizens of the abyss, the demons that gather to spacecraft as sharks to drowning men, but from the very passage of time. For there is no time in the warp and whilst weeks or months pass within a ship's warp envelope there is no accounting for how many years hight go by in the mortal world. Thus too often a battleforce dispatched in hast arrives at its destination centuries later to find the battle lost and themselves pitched into an alien infested hell. In this manner armies are wasted in ignorance and lives thrown upon the wreckage of time.”
A common metaphor used in the Imperium to explain how warp travel works likens the warp to a fast flowing stream, moving rapidly along its motionless banks, which represent real space. A leaf dropped into the water upstream will move along, floating on the surface of the water, moving faster than if a man was to walk along the banks The leaf is carried by the water until it lodges at some point downstream from its original location. Just as a stream may eddy and pool however, so may the streams in the warp.
Dangers
The Immaterium is far from a safe place to travel through. Great currents and storms can blow starships into uncharted areas of the galaxy and make travel through certain regions impossible. Warp Storms that last for centuries can isolate sectors and leave fleets becalmed within the material universe. Even worse, ships could find themselves stranded within the Immaterium itself, a terrible fate for its passengers as they become playthings for the dark creatures that inhabit that diabolical realm. Sometimes a ship will emerge from warp space centuries after they left yet only have experienced a few days on board, while many more vanish without trace. Vessels traveling through the Warp are constantly under attack by the malignant lifeforms that inhabit that dimension. If a ship's Gellar Field fails, the vessel and inhabitants are torn apart, in ways some consider physically impossible, by daemonic entities and the pure ferocious energy of the Warp.
The powers of Chaos and their servants are known to inhabit the Immaterium. Daemons are only able to exist within the Immaterium, unless certain conditions are met within the material realm. The Immaterium is where the servants of the four Dark Gods (Khorne: the Blood God, Slaanesh: the Dark Prince of Pleasure, Tzeentch: the Architect of Fate, and Nurgle: the Lord of Decay) gain their power from, and their followers will undertake any action to increase this power.
Along with the powers of Chaos, the Immaterium is inhabited by many strange creatures, foremost among these being the species known as Enslavers. They are formed by the shifting energies of the Warp from the nightmares of sentient species, and prowl the Immaterium like sharks. They come in many forms, but all are mindless, and all are predatory, seeking out unprotected souls to feed on.
Psykers
The abilities of psychically gifted individuals known as psykers are powered by or draw power from the energies of the Warp, and when such action is undertaken, the daemons and creatures of the Immaterium are drawn to the psyker's mind like moths to a flame. Daemonic entities can use an unshielded psyker's mind like a gateway into the material realm. Once this has occurred often a chain reaction starts, to the point where common 'ungifted' minds can be possessed and used as gateways. Those trained in the use of the psychic arts are able to resist such incursion to a degree, but the greatest fear of the Inquisition is the fact that an untrained psyker can become the target of daemonic possession, or if sufficiently powerful, control the daemonic entities of the Warp. Due to the influence of Chaos within the warp, such individuals are almost always megalomaniacal, seeking to use the daemons and power of the Warp for personal gain.
Controlling the Warp
There are conflicting accounts as to what prevents the Immaterium from spilling out and completely engulfing the material universe, and vice versa. Possible causes (potentially all of them) are:
Tzeentch, the Emperor of Mankind, or a creature known as the "Numen" (from the Inquisition War Trilogy) that keeps it at bay.
The anti-psychic technology of the Necrons, as implied in recent canon.
The laws of physics.
While the Warp spills out in to normal space, so does normal space spill into the Warp in regions like the Eye of Terror (which has more stability than being in the Warp proper as a direct effect of its mingling with real space), so it is possible that an equilibrium is always maintained. The warp and real space never truly "engulf" or "replace" each other, they are technically only described as corrupting each other and mixing. Thus a balance is always achieved, just through different states.
It should also be noted that warp travel and psykers accessing the Immaterium weakens the warp/real space barrier by tiny increments (as psychic activity is often noted as a 'weak spot' between the Warp and our dimension), which suggests that if the warp had never been accessed by lifeforms of this dimension the two would remain totally separate.
A paradox of thoughts is apparent: the extra-dimensional entities of the warp are sustained by the minds and souls of living creatures within the physical world. So what would occur to the warp if all life was obliterated through the fall of the physical reality? It is noted in the Necron Codex that the Warp was once a calm realm of pure energy, but uncontrolled psychic activity and emotion has 'whipped up' the Warp into a realm of insanity and danger. The irony of the situation is that the beings that seek to consume the galaxy in the Warp would perish if such an event occurred. Still, that could perhaps even be their goal, if not consciously.
The exception to this are the Chaos Gods themselves. Originally formed from sentient emotion, and totally reliant on them, these beings have reached a level of power where the effects are inverted; they are totally self-sufficient, and are capable of invoking these emotions in mortal beings.
The Warp
The Warp (also referred to as the Empyrean, Aether or Immaterium) is an alternate dimension to our own reality. It is said by those psyker-mystics and astral-seers who will speak of such things, that the warp exploded into being at the same instant as the material universe, and that the two realms are inextricably and permanently linked to one another. As real-space is a dimension of the physical, so it is said, Warp space is a dimension of the spiritual.
The laws governing the Warp are quite different than those governing the physical universe, if indeed any laws can be said to apply to this realm of chaos. The Warp is an ever-shifting dimension of raw, unfocused energy. Occasionally the link between Warp space and the material realm is weakened and energy from the warp will burst through and create a vortex of power. The powers of the Empyrean have direct influence in such places. Those that visit the strongest of these vortexes speak of a nightmare region where nature and physics are forgotten, and madness and confusion reign. They speak of worlds whose skies burn with fire, or planets seething with seas and rivers of blood, disc-shaped worlds, heavenly bodies with screaming faces and tormented features shaped by the merest whim of the powerful deities that are formed from the Chaos.
“The forces of Warp space rage like the mightiest ocean, and if a mortal could perceive the sound of that realm, he would hear every noise in the universe voiced simultaneously, and would be driven utterly and profoundly insane by the experience.”
The Immaterium is a dimension of the spiritual, created and influenced by mortal emotion and action. Save a few rare exceptions, the mind of every sentient creature leaves an imprint within the Immaterium; a mere spark of light against an inferno. Although the signature of one mind is almost insignificant, when the imprints of an entire race are combined they have a huge impact on the very nature of the Warp (This seems to imply that the Immaterium is not chaotic by nature, but has been made so by the chaos and war in the material realm). With the emergence of Man as the dominant race in the galaxy, the Warp underwent a parallel development. As the souls of the psychically attuned races are linked to the Warp, so their thoughts and emotions are reflected there. n the deepest eddies in the ocean of the Warp, are formed consciousnesses, created by the emotions of the 'young races' that echo their deepest passions. Sometimes these concentrations coalesce into entities that draw their power from the expression of certain emotions in real-space. Many such beings are said to exist within the Warp, some only for a short time as the passion associated with their creation passes. Yet others have transcended the limits of their birth and are no longer mere reflections of the mortal psyche; they now have the power to inspire and feed those emotions that give them their identity; beings of incomprehensible and terrible power. The strongest of these beings become the gods associated with a group, and almost every single race or force of will is represented, be they chaos, Eldar, Ork, Human or any other.
Warp Travel
The Energy of the warp flows like stream and rivers or currents in a mighty ocean. Some of these currents are very fast, others are very slow. A journey that may take centuries in real space can be traversed in a matter of weeks in the warp. If one can navigate these currents, they can use this phenomenon the facilitate faster than light travel. If read correctly however, these currents may have opposite effects than those desired. The tides of warp space move in complex and inconsistent patterns. Warp space can be likened to an ocean, and like the ocean, has its currents and its still spots, its whirlpools and its tempests. Storms sweep through this immaterial realm, spinning travelers out of control for light years around, destroying all those embroiled in its merciless energies.
“For the warp is a strange and terrible place. You might as well throw a traveler into a sea of sharks and tell him to swim home as send him through the warp unprotected.”
“The voyage across the vastness of warp space is full of hazards which are unimaginable to the common warriors of the Imperium. The greatest threat does not come from the denizens of the abyss, the demons that gather to spacecraft as sharks to drowning men, but from the very passage of time. For there is no time in the warp and whilst weeks or months pass within a ship's warp envelope there is no accounting for how many years hight go by in the mortal world. Thus too often a battleforce dispatched in hast arrives at its destination centuries later to find the battle lost and themselves pitched into an alien infested hell. In this manner armies are wasted in ignorance and lives thrown upon the wreckage of time.”
A common metaphor used in the Imperium to explain how warp travel works likens the warp to a fast flowing stream, moving rapidly along its motionless banks, which represent real space. A leaf dropped into the water upstream will move along, floating on the surface of the water, moving faster than if a man was to walk along the banks The leaf is carried by the water until it lodges at some point downstream from its original location. Just as a stream may eddy and pool however, so may the streams in the warp.
Dangers
The Immaterium is far from a safe place to travel through. Great currents and storms can blow starships into uncharted areas of the galaxy and make travel through certain regions impossible. Warp Storms that last for centuries can isolate sectors and leave fleets becalmed within the material universe. Even worse, ships could find themselves stranded within the Immaterium itself, a terrible fate for its passengers as they become playthings for the dark creatures that inhabit that diabolical realm. Sometimes a ship will emerge from warp space centuries after they left yet only have experienced a few days on board, while many more vanish without trace. Vessels traveling through the Warp are constantly under attack by the malignant lifeforms that inhabit that dimension. If a ship's Gellar Field fails, the vessel and inhabitants are torn apart, in ways some consider physically impossible, by daemonic entities and the pure ferocious energy of the Warp.
The powers of Chaos and their servants are known to inhabit the Immaterium. Daemons are only able to exist within the Immaterium, unless certain conditions are met within the material realm. The Immaterium is where the servants of the four Dark Gods (Khorne: the Blood God, Slaanesh: the Dark Prince of Pleasure, Tzeentch: the Architect of Fate, and Nurgle: the Lord of Decay) gain their power from, and their followers will undertake any action to increase this power.
Along with the powers of Chaos, the Immaterium is inhabited by many strange creatures, foremost among these being the species known as Enslavers. They are formed by the shifting energies of the Warp from the nightmares of sentient species, and prowl the Immaterium like sharks. They come in many forms, but all are mindless, and all are predatory, seeking out unprotected souls to feed on.
Psykers
The abilities of psychically gifted individuals known as psykers are powered by or draw power from the energies of the Warp, and when such action is undertaken, the daemons and creatures of the Immaterium are drawn to the psyker's mind like moths to a flame. Daemonic entities can use an unshielded psyker's mind like a gateway into the material realm. Once this has occurred often a chain reaction starts, to the point where common 'ungifted' minds can be possessed and used as gateways. Those trained in the use of the psychic arts are able to resist such incursion to a degree, but the greatest fear of the Inquisition is the fact that an untrained psyker can become the target of daemonic possession, or if sufficiently powerful, control the daemonic entities of the Warp. Due to the influence of Chaos within the warp, such individuals are almost always megalomaniacal, seeking to use the daemons and power of the Warp for personal gain.
Controlling the Warp
There are conflicting accounts as to what prevents the Immaterium from spilling out and completely engulfing the material universe, and vice versa. Possible causes (potentially all of them) are:
Tzeentch, the Emperor of Mankind, or a creature known as the "Numen" (from the Inquisition War Trilogy) that keeps it at bay.
The anti-psychic technology of the Necrons, as implied in recent canon.
The laws of physics.
While the Warp spills out in to normal space, so does normal space spill into the Warp in regions like the Eye of Terror (which has more stability than being in the Warp proper as a direct effect of its mingling with real space), so it is possible that an equilibrium is always maintained. The warp and real space never truly "engulf" or "replace" each other, they are technically only described as corrupting each other and mixing. Thus a balance is always achieved, just through different states.
It should also be noted that warp travel and psykers accessing the Immaterium weakens the warp/real space barrier by tiny increments (as psychic activity is often noted as a 'weak spot' between the Warp and our dimension), which suggests that if the warp had never been accessed by lifeforms of this dimension the two would remain totally separate.
A paradox of thoughts is apparent: the extra-dimensional entities of the warp are sustained by the minds and souls of living creatures within the physical world. So what would occur to the warp if all life was obliterated through the fall of the physical reality? It is noted in the Necron Codex that the Warp was once a calm realm of pure energy, but uncontrolled psychic activity and emotion has 'whipped up' the Warp into a realm of insanity and danger. The irony of the situation is that the beings that seek to consume the galaxy in the Warp would perish if such an event occurred. Still, that could perhaps even be their goal, if not consciously.
The exception to this are the Chaos Gods themselves. Originally formed from sentient emotion, and totally reliant on them, these beings have reached a level of power where the effects are inverted; they are totally self-sufficient, and are capable of invoking these emotions in mortal beings.
