Veil of Webs

The Veil of Webs is an extradimensional space that lies between Universe 526F6F74 and the Root Universe. It was created by the Singularities in an attempt to obscure the Root Universe from the view of the Agnaren. The Veil's name comes from the idea that it is a tangle of intersecting strands that form webs; each strand is an illusory reflection of the Root Universe, and the tangled "webs" of false realities act as a veil that hides the material Root Universe from the Agnaren.

Applications and Implications

The inhabitants of the Root Universe discovered the Veil's existence as they became exponentially more scientifically advanced. Naturally, once they were aware of its existence, they began finding ways to exploit it. As the Singularities are the masters and creators of the Veil, only they can be said to be true Veil users, able to interact with it without damaging it; all lower lifeforms that tamper with and traverse the Veil are Veil manipulators, whose meddling frays and shears the strands that make up the Veil. Each act of Veil manipulation weakens and thins the Veil, bringing the Agnaren closer to finding the Root Universe. The more the inhabitants of the Root Universe perform the following acts (and others), the more they court their own doom:

Veil Manipulation and Spoofing

Veil manipulation is the act of using specialized technology and in-born willpower to pull reflections from the Veil of Webs and manifest them in the Root Universe. Veil illusions brought into the Root Universe have real, tangible effects on the material level. Due to the effects of Veil exposure, using the power in any capacity poses risk to its user. It should be emphasized that, barring personal willpower, the ability to tap into the Veil is not a natural, in-born ability. In addition to training, Veil manipulation requires the use of specialized, invasive, and often highly-expensive technology that is implanted into or wielded by the Veil manipulator. Different acts of Veil manipulation require more sophisticated implants or equipment; non-implanted, externally-operated equipment is typically less precise and effective than Veil manipulation implants, as implanted Veil manipulation devices have more direct access to the implantee's brain and neural patterns. External Veil equipment is more unstable than implants when manifesting high-level Veil effect; this instability can result in the collapse of the desired illusion, the damage or destruction of the device, and harm towards or the death of the Veil manipulator. An act such as manifesting a wall of flames, while inherently unsafe in any case, is more reliable, stable, and effective with implants rather than external equipment. External equipment is more suited to lesser manifestations that require less training and lower-level technology, such as manifesting a plank of wood. In general, more complicated Veil manifestations require more complicated implants and greater training, while simple Veil manifestations can be achieved with simpler implants and lesser training.

Veil manipulation entails the concepts of precedent and contrivance. Using precedent means manifesting an effect in the Root Universe that was already reflected in the Veil; this could mean manifesting an illusory instance of any Root Universe-native species, element, technology, and so on. Precedence manifestation is typically considered the safer form of Veil manipulation (and is certainly less destructive toward the Veil), but this is relative, as any Veil manipulation is an inherently dangerous act to the manipulator and the Veil. Using contrivance entails contorting and twisting the strands and reflections of the Veil to contrive something that does not already exist in the Root Universe. This is the most dangerous form of Veil manipulation, highly damaging towards the Veil and with long-lasting ripple effects on the Root Universe. Contrived manifestation created the Helminth, which destroyed Cryorcia, burrowed into Namine, and created the Keilicaela--a very real, non-illusory species responsible for eating the original native inhabitants of Namine. The creation of the Helminth was also an instance of mass Veil manipulation, wherein multiple Veil manipulators focus upon a singular manifestation. Mass Veil manipulation has rarely had positive outcomes; one such example being Project Hivemind, which was the lynchpin that made Ashreksas's Hivemind Crisis possible.

For these reasons, Veil manipulation is typically outlawed for civilians in most cultures. “Spoofing” is a common slang term that refers to illegal Veil manipulation performed by non-authorized entities. Those who engage in this illegal practice are called "spoofers." The term "spoofer" may refer to the concept that unauthorized Veil manipulators are imitating or spoofing their authorized counterparts. The term may also simply be a slang term for Veil manipulation as a whole, as all Veil manifestation is a "spoofed" version of reality. Spoofers can be, but are not limited to, rogue Veil manipulators who once had governmental sanction but went AWOL, cultists, unauthorized organizations, or private, unaffiliated individuals. The level of technology any given spoofer has access to varies wildly. Former approved Veil-manipulators may still have sanctioned, advanced implants; unauthorized organizations may have manufactured their own implants using industrial means; cultists and criminal syndicates may steal officially-sanctioned Veil manipulation technology; a common citizen who decides to take up spoofing will find himself engaging in the most dangerous form of Veil manipulation as he attempts the craft without proper training or willpower. Spoofers such as these often buy or cobble together unsanctioned implants and equipment that are just as dangerous from their mechanical failure rates and proximity to the brain as they are from the innate hazard of Veil manipulation.

For as deadly as Veil manipulation is, spoofers have a markedly higher mortality rate than sanctioned Veil manipulators. Counterbalancing this, any unaffiliated spoofer who lives long enough to become noticed by a government before he dies has a decent chance at getting hired (often without choice), trained, and equipped by sanctioned organizational bodies, becoming a proper Veil manipulator. Most spoofers who manipulate the Veil, are alive by the time a higher power notices, and refuse or evade authorities, end up dead before long. It is rare that an instance of Veil manipulation goes undetected if done in the jurisdiction of a major spacefaring power; such instances are investigated and dealt with severely. As opposed to lone unaffiliated spoofers, formerly-sanctioned AWOL Veil manipulators are typically exterminated--as are organizations and groups that engage in spoofing. Groups are typically killed rather than recruited to minimize the chance of disastrous mass manipulation events and to put an end to any potential nefarious plans the group may have had in place. It is worth re-emphasizing that Veil manipulation technology is dangerous and rare--as are individuals with the fortitude and willpower to engage with it--so spoofers are exceedingly uncommon and groups of them even moreso. It is not often that a spacefaring nation-state has to crack down on spoofing and mass Veil manipulation, and such instances are historically noteworthy (such as the aforementioned Hivemind Crisis).

FTL Travel

The Veil of Webs is used by most space-faring civilization as the basis for faster-than-light travel. Veil-travel is technically a form of Veil manipulation; it is widespread and destructive towards the Veil. In spite of this, FTL travel via the Veil is considered the second-safest form (behind communication) of Veil manipulation to the point where even civilian craft are allowed to engage in it, making it and communication the only forms of Veil manipulation most governments authorize for their citizens.

FTL via Veil manipulation is done through a variety of methods. Common methods include slipping between the strands of the webs, traversing the strands of the webs themselves, riding the illusions within the Veil, and punching holes through the Veil of Webs. A vast variance of Veil-travel methods have been pioneered by numerous cultures and species throughout the universe. Notable forms of Veil-based FTL are Tearstream, Phantom Drive, Voidcrossing, and the hybrid Einstein-Rosen-Veil Bridge.

Typically, the faster and more efficient the FTL variant when traversing the Veil of Webs, the more traumatic or damaging it is for the entity that controls navigation through the Veil, as witnessing the illusions within the Veil harms the psyche of sapio-organic and organic-brained-patterned sapio-synthetic entities. Purely organic entities that perform Veil navigation suffer traditional exposure symptoms, multiplied exponentially by the velocity of the spacecraft. For AI Veil navigators, hardware and software based upon organic brain structures are more susceptible to the illusions of the Veil of Webs, and therefore the negative effects inherent to space travel--though the negative impact of these effects accumulate at a slower rate than they would in organic brains as the synthetic brain typically has more processing power to deal with the trauma. AI navigators that are purely synthetic are less susceptible to the effects, but still can incur a degree of damage.

FTL Communication

Another use for the Veil is faster-than-light communications. Though possible, it is more limited in complexity than traditional means of sub-light communication. The Veil obfuscates and mutates signals sent through it, so that interpreting them literally results in corrupted or outright false data. Because of this, information sent through the Veil cannot be overly complex, must be resent multiple times and decoded with inference and statistical methods, or requires communication between skilled Veil manipulators to ensure "accurate enough" interpretation of the data.

A variant of FTL communications using the Veil is sending data packages through on probes equipped with Veil-based FTL drives. This allows for the transferal of complex strings of data at the sacrifice of speed in favor of accuracy. Nonetheless, the range and speed of this transmission method still vastly defeats traditional sub-light transmission.

True Seers

It is possible for sapio-organic entities to see through the illusions of the Veil. Individuals capable of this are known as true seers. True sight is only possible with intense, life-long training and discipline, and a vast amount of personal willpower. Any attempt at Veil manipulation practiced around or against these individuals has no affect on the material world. A true seer goes beyond intellectually acknowledging that the Veil is illusory; a true seer knows on a subconscious, "gut" level that Veil manipulation is a glorified performance art trick. They see the Veil's reflections and know not only that they can be rejected, but how to reject them. Examples of true seers are exceedingly rare--possibly more uncommon than Veil manipulators or spoofers.

Exposure

Exposure to the Veil of Webs, be it from Veil manipulation or otherwise, is noted to cause insanity in organic subjects. Curiously, purely synthetic intelligence tends to be resistant to the illusory effects of the Veil despite its initial use as a tool to obfuscate the Root Universe from the synthetic Agnaren. For sapio-organic entities, true-sight can minimize the negative impact of Veil exposure--within reason. True sight is a practice as much as it is a philosophy, and certain acts of Veil manipulation require more fortitude and willpower to reject than others; seeing through a false brick wall created by Veil manipulation is one thing for a novice true seer, but being totally immersed in one of the Veil's strands (such as in FTL transit) may leave even expert true seers unable to achieve full rejection from the sheer sensory overload of Veil illusions.