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 their universe from the view of the Agnaren. It exists as a recursive refraction of the Root Universe.

Exposure to the Veil

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 immune to the illusory effects of the Veil despite its initial use as a tool to obfuscate the Root Universe from the synthetic Agnaren.

Seers

It is possible for sapio-organic entities to see through the illusions of the Veil. This is only possible with intense, life-long training and discipline, as well as the expense of great amounts of will-power. Any "Veil Magic" used around, or against these individuals is seen through. For them, it does not exist, and they are not affected by it. Examples of such individuals are exceedingly rare.

Uses for the Veil

Veil Manipulation / Spoofing

Veil Manipulation is the act of using the Veil to manifest illusory elements in the root universe that appear to sapient creatures in the root universe as “magic”. This is done by breaching the barrier between realities and tapping into the Veil. Due to the effects of Veil exposure, using the power in any capacity poses risk to its user. The power to tap into the Veil is also not an in-born ability. It requires the use of tech, often highly expensive and invasive implants for the user to make use of it at all, in addition to training. For these reasons, Veil Manipulation is typically banned in most cultures for use by civilians. Most Veil Manipulation-capable individuals are typically hired, often without choice, and trained by governments. “Spoofing” is a shared slang term that refers to the illegal use of Veil Manipulation by non-authorized entities.

FTL Travel

The Veil of Webs can be used as a basis for faster than light travel through a variety of methods. Common methods include slipping between the strands of the web, traversing the strands of the web itself, riding the illusions of the web, and punching holes through the Veil of Webs. A large number of other variants have been produced by numerous cultures and species throughout the universe. Notable forms of Veil-based FTL are Tearstream, Phantom Drive, and Voidcrossing. Typically, the faster and more efficient the FTL variant when using the Veil of Webs, the more traumatic or damaging it is for the entity that controls navigation through the Veil. Purely organic entities that are used for 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. AI Navigators that are purely synthetic are less susceptible to the effects, but still can incur 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.